GIFT 
UL  24  1913 


A  Study  of  Questioning 


BY 
SOSHICHI  YAMADA 

Clark  University 


A  DISSERTATION  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF 
CLARK  UNIVERSITY,  WORCESTER,  MASS.,  IN  PARTIAL 
FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE 
DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY,  AND  ACCEPTED 
ON  THE  RECOMMENDATION  OF  WILLIAM  H.  BURNHAM 


Reprinted   mmi  the    PKUA^H,:  IXAKV 

June,  1913,  Vol.  XX,  pp.  129-186 


A  Study  of  Questioning 


BY 
SOSHICHI  YAMADA 

Clark  University 


A  DISSERTATION  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF 
CLARK  UNIVERSITY,  WORCESTER,  MASS.,  IN  PARTIAL 
FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE 
DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY,  AND  ACCEPTED 
ON  THE  RECOMMENDATION  OF  WILLIAM  H.  BURNHAM 


Reprinted  from  the  PEDAGOGICAL  SEMINARY 
June,  1913,  Vol.  XX,  pp.  129-186 


I 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING* 


By  SOSHICHI  YAMADA,  Clark  University 


'PREFACE 

Since  Socrates  the  question  method  has  occupied  a 
prominent  place  in  the  technique  of  instruction.  "  To  question 
well,"  says  De  Garmo  (19.  p.  179),  "  is  to  teach  well.  In  the 
skillful  use  of  the  question  more  than  in  anything  else  lies  the 
fine  art  of  teaching."  Indeed,  "  the  art  of  correct  questioning 
has  a  highly  significant  effect  upon  the  mental  develop- 
ment, .  .  .  ."  (32.  pp.  331-332.) 

To-day  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  school  time  is  occupied 
with  questions  and  answers;  but  unfortunately  the  general 
assumption  that  we  know  by  intuition  when  and  how  to  ask 
questions  kept  investigators  from  the  study  of  the  psychology 
of  questioning  until  the  dawn  of  this  century  when  the  genius 
of  Alfred  Binet  inspired  him  to  attempt  the  solution  of  the 
problem  (6.  p.  244).  Naturally  the  majority  of  teachers 
whom  we  hire  to  put  questions  to  our  children  ask  questions 
for  months  and  years  without  ever  knowing  the  psychology 
of  what  they  are  doing,  hence  without  ever  taking  into  account 
what  mental  changes  a  question  calls  forth,  what  emotional 
states  it  arouses  in  the  pupil's  mind,  how  such  resulting  states 
influence  the  course  of  ideation  and  thinking,  and  so  forth. 
If  the  teachers  do  not  know  anything  about  these  changes, 
they  are  not  qualified  for  teachers.  Thus  it  is  of  prime 
importance  for  educators  to  study  the  influence  of  questioning 
upon  answers  and  upon  the  mental  development  of  the  child. 

*  The  writer  wishes  to  express  his  hearty  thanks  to  Drs.  W.  H. 
Burnham  and  Theodate  L.  Smith  of  Clark  University  and  to  Messrs. 
Vermille  and  Butler,  principals  of  the  Dix  St.  and  Edgeworth 
St.  schools,  for  their  advice  and  assistance  in  this  investigation. 

267576 


130  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

The  question  rightly  used  is  a  medium  through  which  a 
teacher  comes  into  the  closest  touch  affectively  with  her  pupil. 
The  pupil's  reaction-time  and  the  mode  of  reaction  to  the  given 
question  will  reveal  his  mental  type  and  characteristics;  for 
instance,  whether  he  is  of  visual,  auditory,  motor,  or 
mixed  type ;  whether  his  temperament  is  sanguine,  phlegmatic, 
melancholic,  etc. ;  or  again  whether  he  is  able  to  impress 
something  upon  his  mind  (memory)  with  ease  or  difficulty, 
whether  he  forgets  quickly  or  slowly,  whether  he  can  retain  a 
great  mass  of  ideas  or  only  scanty  fragments ;  etc.  All  these 
analytical  observations  are  the  indispensable  task  of  a  teacher 
in  real  dynamic  education;  for  this  knowledge  alone  will 
furnish  the  principles  of  individual  psychology.  Care, 
however,  should  be  taken  that  the  observations  be  made 
scientifically.  The  teacher,  through  such  diagnosis,  will 
discover  technique  for  further  questioning.  The  question  is, 
thus,  a  tool  for  psychological  analysis  and  diagnosis. 

Pedagogically,  the  purpose  of  questioning  is  manifold. 

1.  It  is  to  awaken  the  pupils  to  self-activity,  to  stimulate 
them  to  think.    It  gives  a  teacher  an  opportunity  for  directing 
and  training  the  thought  processes  of  her  pupils. 

2.  It  is  to  cultivate  the  fine  art  of  good  expression.     A 
habit  of  clear,  concise  and  discriminating  enunciation  and  of 
an   agreeable  intonation   is   one  of   the  most  attractive  and 
highest  gifts  which  any  teacher  can  bestow  upon  a  child. 

3.  It  is  a  means  of  testing 'the  depth  of  the  pupil's  mind. 
Through  a  series  of  skillful  questions,  the  teacher  brings  to 
light  the  strength  and  weakness  of  his  knowledge,  so  that  she 
may  find  out  his  intellectual  status. 

If  the  aim  of  the  question  is  to  train  the  processes  of  thought 
and  expression,  what  will  be  the  result  when  a  teacher,,  in  one 
class  period,  say,  of  forty  minutes,  asks  over  eighty  questions 
(65.  p.  n)  and  gets  as  many  answers?  What  chance  can 
there  be  for  orderly  association  and  deep  accurate  impression 
of  ideas,  or  for  a  complete  expression  of  thought?  Further- 
more the  nervous  tension  of  the  pupils  under  such  a  pressure 
must  be  considered.  A  new  science  of  school  hygiene  has 
arisen  which  is  dealing  with  the  problem  of  the  physical  as  well 
as  mental  conditions  of  children  in  order  that  they  may  be  able 
to  do  more  work  without  injury.  But  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  children  may  not  make  better  progress  in  orderly 
association,  originality,  and  preciseness  of  thought  and 
expression,  if  given  more  freedom  and  time  for  thinking  and 
expressing  their  thought  as  they  have  when  engaged  in  their 
own  activities,  has  not  yet  received  due  consideration.  Time  is 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  131 

required  to  digest  impressions  and  translate  them  into  clear 
and  definite  ideas.  Will  not  a  "  lack  of  time  and  leisure 
conduce  to  habits  of  speedy,  but  snapshot  and  superficial 
judgment?"  (20.  p.  37.) 

I  do  plead  for  the  millions^  of  the  children  who  now  live  in 
agony  the  school  years  of  their  lives  because  of  this  dragon  of 
misguided  questioning  now  so  universally  rampant  in  our 
schools.  "  Every  question,"  says  Matthias  (41.  p.  79),  "  must 
strengthen  the  mental  power  of  the  pupil,  sharpen  his  under- 
standing, advance  his  knowledge,  develop  his  speech-power. 
Hence  one  should  not  put  any  question,  in  which  the  pupil 
needs  to  think  nothing  or  little,"  nor  should  questions  be  asked 
without  giving  sufficient  time  for  purposive  thinking  and  a 
complete  expression  of  thought.  Is  it,  however,  possible  to 
acquire  the  art  of  questioning  by  practice?  It  may  be  a 
possible  attainment  with  practice  of  the  most  intelligent 
sort,  but  mere  practice,  blind  and  mechanical,  however 
enthusiastic  a  practitioner  may  be,  will  never  attain  the 
desired  end.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  teachers  practice 
questioning  hourly  and  daily,  year  after  year,  and  yet  are  no 
better  off  than  when  they  began.  The  art  of  questioning  can 
not  be  mastered  without  an  accurate  knowledge  of  its  funda- 
mental principles.  In  other  words,  mere  practice  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  teach  one  the  psychology  of  questioning. 

From  this  pedagogical  and  psychological  point  of  view,  the 
writer  has  studied  the  relation  between  question  and  answer. 

EXPERIMENTAL  RESULTS 

The  study  of  the  psychology  of  questioning  is  very  recent. 
Since  Binet  (6.  pp.  244-324)  attempted  the  solution  of  this 
problem,  there  has  followed  a  series  of  experimental  investiga- 
tions among  which  the  studies  of  Stern,  Wreschner,  Lipmann, 
Lobsien,  and  Borst  are  specially  prominent. 

Two  methods  have  chiefly  been  used :  the  picture  method 
(Bildmethode)  and  the  objective  method  (Wirklichkeits- 
methode).  In  the  first  the  presentation  of  pictures,  in  the 
second  objects  or  events  of  real  life,  are  used  as  material  in 
regard  to  which  testimony  (Aussage)  is  obtained  in  two  ways : 
by  "  free  spontaneous  report  or  narrative "  (Bericht)  (62. 
p.  270)  and  by  asking  questions,  the  so-called  "  interroga- 
tory "  (Verh'6)  or  Whipple's  "deposition."  Hereafter  these 
German  terms  will  be  used. 

Binet  first  used  the  picture  method  and  tried  to  work  out 
the  mechanism  of  the  personal  influence  of  questions  upon 
children.  He  began  by  addressing  the  children  as  follows: 

"  My  friends,  we  are  going  to  make  an  experiment,  to  dis- 


132  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

cover  if  you  have  a  good  memory,  a  memory  better  than  that 
of  your  comrades ;  I  am  going  to  show  you  a  pasteboard  which 
is  here  hidden  behind  that  screen;  on  the  pasteboard  certain 
objects  will  be  seen.  I  shall  show  you  them  for  twelve 
seconds ;  twelve  seconds,  look  at  them  attentively.  It 
is  a  very  short  time,  it  is  not  a  minute;  a  minute  consists  of 
sixty  seconds;  twelve  seconds  will  pass  by  very  quickly.  It 
is  thus  necessary  not  to  lose  this  precious  time;  make  use  of 
it  in  your  observation  of  the  objects  very  carefully,  for  as 
soon  as  twelve  seconds  elapse,  I  shall  take  the  pasteboard 
away  from  you,  and  then  I  shall  put  a  number  of  questions 
upon  what  you  have  seen.  Many  of  the  questions  are  upon 
the  small  details,  and  you  are  requested  to  answer  exactly. 
Do  you  understand  ?  Is  it  clear  to  you  ?  "  With  this  explana- 
tion, which,  Binet  says,  has  almost  always  had  the  effect  to 
excite  the  curiosity  and  enthusiasm  of  the  child,  he  showed  the 
following  six  objects  pasted  on  a  card:  a  penny,  a  button,  a 
stamp,  a  label,  a  photograph  and  a  picture.  The  number  of 
observers  was  twenty-five,  all  of  the  primary  school,  ranging 
in  age  from  nine  to  twelve  years. 

Here  the  object  was  to  provoke,  in  the  observers,  errors  of 
the  forced  memory,  and  to  discover  the  amount  of  error  through 
imagination.  Hence  instead  of  asking  their  spontaneous 
description  of  each  object,  he  first  asked  simply  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  objects  and  then  put  a  series  of  questions,  forty-one 
in  all.  The  results  were  very  poor  compared  with  those 
obtained  by  other  investigators,  because  of  the  very  brief  time 
of  exposure.  The  percentage  of  the  right  and  the  false 
answers  was  58.2  and  41.8  respectively.  (6.  pp.  262-269.) 

Then  the  method  of  spontaneous  narrative  was  tried, 
repeating  the  same  test  upon  a  different  group  of  children 
without  asking  any  questions,  that  is,  the  children  simply  wrote 
what  they  saw  and  remembered,  the  only  recommendation 
being  not  to  be  contented  with  naming  the  objects,  but  to 
describe  all  the  details.  The  number  of  the  pupils  tested  was 
twelve,  all  of  the  upper  class  of  the  primary  school,  with  the 
same  conditions  as  far  as  possible.  The  results  were:  two 
pupils  committed  no  error;  two  committed  one  error;  one 
committed  two ;  four,  three ;  and  three,  four  errors ;  while  in 
the  experiment  of  the  forced  memory,  the  minimum  of  error 
was  five  and  the  maximum  was  thirteen.  (6.  pp.  262-269.) 

It  is  extremely  probable  that,  if  one  forces  the  memory  by 
suggestion,  one  may  provoke  a  great  number  of  errors. 
Thus  Binet  made  three  more  tests  by  the  use  of  the  written 
questions.  The  same  objects  were  shown  as  before.  A 
number  of  children  of  ages  nine  to  twelve  were  divided  into 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 


133 


three  groups  and  each  group  received  a  different  set  of  the 
questions.  The  first  was  intended  to  force  memory,  e.  g., 
"  How  is  the  button  fixed  ?  "  The  second  was  intended  to 
produce  a  moderate  suggestion,  e.  g.,  the  form  of  the  questions 
was  suggestive  of  false  affirmation,  for  example :  "  Isn't  the 
button  fastened  with  thread  ?  "  The  third  gave  a  strong  sug- 
gestion, e.  g.,  "  What  is  the  color  of  the  thread  which  passes 
through  the  holes  of  the  button  and  fixes  it  to  the  card  ?  " 

As  Binet  expected,  the  majority  of  his  observers  accepted 
suggestions  and  answered  as  if  the  memory  images  had  been 
true  and  spontaneous  as  is  seen  from  the  following  table. 
(6.  p.  313.) 


Questionnaire 

Questionnaire 

Questionnaire 

I 

II 

III 

5  children 

n  children 

ii  children 

r 

f 

r 

f 

r 

f 

8.1 

2.9 

8.09 

4.9 

5-09 

7-9 

73-6% 

26.4% 

63-3% 

37-7% 

39-2% 

60.8% 

In  this  and  the  following  tables, 

r  equals  number  of  items  rightly  reported ; 

f        "  "  "        falsely 

u       "  «        uncertain     " 

The  surprisingly  high  percentage  of  the  errors  in  case  of 
the  third  questionnaire  shows  how  few  of  the  children  have 
sufficient  independence  of  thinking  and  will-power  to 
acknowledge  and  refuse  the  false  suggestions.  Twelve  normal 
school  students  made  the  same  kind  of  errors  as  the  children 
did,  though  not  so  gross.  (6.  pp.  325-329.) 

Binet  concludes  as  follows :  A  full  and  concise  report  may 
be  made  and  yet  be  false.  (6.  p.  285.)  The  experiment  of 
the  forced  memory  is  subjected  to  error  more  than  that  of 
the  spontaneous  memory  (6.  p.  294).  The  method  of  sug- 
gestion by  the  written  questions  is  powerful  enough  to  influ- 
ence not  only  children  under  twelve,  but  also  young  people  of 
eighteen  years  of  age  (6.  p.  329),  and  more  so  with  the  oral 
questioning.  Hence  if  you  desire  a  faithful  testimony  from  a 
child,  you  must  not  ask  him  any  question,  nor  command  him 
to  make  an  oral  report,  but  require  him  to  write  spontaneously 
what  he  knows,  since  children  are,  even  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
still  incapable  of  distinguishing  between  fact  and  fiction  or 


134 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 


invention  by  imagination  and  reasoning.  "  How  many  adults 
are  not  grown  up  children  in  this  respect !  "  adds  Seashore  in 
his  review  of  Binet's  "  La  Suggestibilite." 

Following  Binet,  Stern  performed  several  experiments  on 
the  same  problem.  One  of  them  was  carried  out  in  the  year 
1902  with  forty-seven  observers  of  from  seven  to  nineteen 
years  of  age  of  both  sexes.  After  an  introductory  statement, 
almost  the  same  as  Binet's,  Stern  hands  a  picture,  well  known 
now  as  the  Bauernstube  (peasant  room)  to  the  observer  to 
look  at  it  attentively  in  bright  day  light  for  one  minute,  after 
which  period  he  takes  the  picture  away  and  asks  the  observer 
to  describe  what  he  has  seen.  If  the  observer  begins  to  hesi- 
tate in  his  explanation,  the  experimenter  says  quietly:  "  Think 
of  it;  something  may  probably  come  to  you  yet."  If  the 
observer  is  again  silent,  the  experimenter  asks :  "  Does 
nothing  occur  to  your  mind  any  more  ?  "  Upon  the  answer : 
"  no,"  the  experimenter  goes  on :  "  Now  I  shall  ask  you  a 
little  more,  and  certainly  something  will  come  to  your  mind. 
But  if  you  do  not  know  any  answer  to  the  given  questions, 
just  say :  '  I  do  not  know.'  It  will  not  harm  you  at  all,  even 
if  you  do  not  know."  Stern  allowed  one  minute  for  observa- 
tion in  order  that  a  thorough  comprehension  and  better 
recollection  might  be  obtained.  The  resistance  to  falsification 
through  suggestion  was  thus  increased.  Twelve  suggestive 
questions  were  mixed  with  the  indifferent  questions  to  divert 
suspicion,  and  the  suggestive  questions  were,  like  the  second 
questionnaire  of  Binet,  purely  "  questions  "  that  suggested  the 
answer  "  yes."  Each  question  including  the  suggestive  one 
was  asked  only  once  in  the  most  indifferent  tone,  and 
answered  orally.  The  results  are  shown  in  the  following 
table.  (58.  pp.  295-321.) 


f 

r 

f 

r+f 

r+f 

Bericht  

24 

I  .  c 

% 

04 

% 
6 

VerhSr 

?  e 

17    I 

6    7 

6? 

•7  -2 

Normal  q  

in  % 
66 

in% 
26 

in% 
8 

72  .  7 

27.7 

Sujjgr   q  .  . 

en 

2  < 

16 

70  .  7 

20  .  1 

Thus   Stern  concludes  that  errorless  testimony  is  not  the 
rule  but  the  exception ;  that  the  Bericht  is  far  more  trust- 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  135 

worthy  than  the  Verhor;  that  every  question  has  a  suggestive 
influence ;  etc. 

Ranschburg  (48),  with  thirty  feeble-minded  children  of 
ages  from  eleven  to  seventeen;  Rodenwaldt  (50),  with  fifty 
soldiers  of  from  nineteen  to  twenty-three  years  of  age;  and 
Revesz  (49),  with  twenty-six  morally  depraved  pupils  ranging 
in  age  from  nine  to  fifteen,  made  experiments  after  the 
same  method  and  with  the  same  picture  Stern  used; 
Oppenheim  (45),  with  thirty  girls  of  from  ten  to  twelve 
years  of  age,  in  1904,  with  three  pictures  named  Bauern- 
stube,  Feld,  and  Wasser,  after  Stern's  method,  and  Breukink 
(n),  with  108  adult  observers  repeating  the  experiment 
of  Oppenheim, — obtained  similar  results.  In  the  experi- 
ments of  Oppenheim  questions  and  answers  were  given 
orally,  while  with  Breukink  they  were  in  written  form.  The 
former  experimenter,  from  the  second  test  on,  encouraged 
her  observers  to  do  better  work,  telling  them  that  many  false 
answers  had  been  given.  This,  undoubtedly,  warned  the 
observers  against  the  influence  of  the  questions,  especially 
against  the  suggestive  ones,  so  that  a  better  result  was 
obtained  in  the  later  than  in  the  earlier  experiments.  The 
educability  of  children  in  the  giving  of  testimony  is  clearly 
observed  in  both  cases. 

Wreschner  (70),  dissatisfied  with  the  method  of  Stern  in 
regard  to  the  Bericht,  used  his  own  method,  the  so- 
called  examination-method  (Priifungs-methode).  According 
to  his  explanation,  its  chief  characteristic  is  that  exactly 
specialised  themes  for  testimony  are  given  to  the  observers ; 
it  has  the  advantage  of  making  conditions  similar  for  all 
observers,  and  obtains  an  equal  number  of  statements 
(Angaben)  from  all  observers,  so  that  the  number  of  the 
statements,  omissions  and  errors  can  be  exactly  calculable,  etc. 
He  notes  that  this  method  is  closely  connected  with  the 
Verhor,  but  he  seems  rather  to  ignore  or  at  least  to  dis- 
regard its  suggestive  influence,  as  well  as  that  of  the  usual 
interrogatory  method.  He  used  a  picture  called  "  Gross- 
vater"  with  nine  observers.  A  spontaneous  report  was  given 
immediately  after  an  observation  of  one  minute ;  the  second 
was  given  after  seven  days ;  and  the  so-called  examination- 
method  was  used  after  seven  days  for  four  observers  and  also 
after  seventeen  days  for  the  other  five  observers  (70.  p.  174). 
The  results  by  this  method  also  were  similar  (70.  pp.  174-5). 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  examination  method  like  the  Verhor 
raises  many  statements  from  latency  into  actuality,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  it  produces  many  errors,  undoubtedly  due  to 
suggestive  influence  caused  by  narrowing  the  conscious  field. 


136  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

Borst  (9  and  10)  who  followed  partly  Wreschner's  method 
so  that  there  were  supposedly  no  suggestive  questions  in  her 
experiments,  though  there  were  in  reality  such;  Cohn  and 
Gent  (17),  with  and  without  distraction  of  attention  during 
the  observation  of  the  pictures;  and  Dieffenbach  (16)  with 
ninety-eight  observers  of  ages  from  seven  to  twenty,  obtained 
results  similar  to  those  already  given. 

We  now  turn  from  the  experimental  results  by  the  picture 
method  to  those  of  the  objective  method  (Wirklichkeits- 
methode)  and  cite  a  few  of  the  results.  In  the  winter  of  1903 
and  1904  an  experiment  was  made  by  Stern  (61)  on  the 
students  in  his  psychological  seminary  at  the  University.  The 
procedure  was  as  follows:  A  gentleman  steps  into  the 
seminary,  wishes  to  talk  with  the  lecturer  (Stern),  hands 
the  latter,  with  a  few  words,  a  package  of  manuscript,  asks 
the  latter's  permission  to  make  use  of  the  library  in  the 
seminary-room,  takes  up  a  book,  goes  out  after  five  minutes 
taking  the  book  with  him  and  is  asked  by  the  lecturer  (Stern) 
to  wait  outside  for  the  latter  until  the  close  of  the  seminary." 
The  number  of  the  observers  were  fifteen,  six  women  teachers 
and  nine  students.  After  eight  days  the  Bericht  and  Verhbr 
took  place  in  writing.  The  result  (61.  pp.  17-22)  was: 
With  the  Bericht  the  true  statements  amounted  to  75%  and 
the  false  statements  to  25% ;  with  the  Verhor  50.5%  and 
49-5%  respectively. 

So,  too,  in  the  summer  of  1904,  Lisst  (36)  with  twenty-two 
students,  and  Rohde  (51)  in  1907  with  neuropathological 
but  mentally  sound  patients,  arrived  at  conclusions  similar 
to  those  of  Stern. 

Suggestibility  has  hitherto  almost  always  been  investigated 
by  introducing  suggestive  questions  among  the  normal  ques- 
tions and  by  a  comparison  between  results  obtained  through 
the  normal  and  suggestive  questions.  This  method  is  not 
entirely  trustworthy,  since  the  suggestive  questions  may  refer 
to  different  objects,  and  the  different  objects  are  not  retained 
in  memory  with  equal  clearness.  (35.  pp.  418  ff.) 

This  criticism  may  be  avoided,  if  one  investigates  the 
memory  for  one  and  the  same  object  by  differently  formulated 
questions.  But  naturally  these  different  questions  can  not  be 
addressed  to  one  and  the  same  person,  hence  one  must  put 
them  to  different  persons  as  follows :  The  questions  about  an 
object  (i)  :  to  the  person  (A)  in  the  form  (a),  namely  with- 
out suggestion,  to  the  person  (B)  in  the  form  (b)  or  with 
simple  suggestion,  and  to  the  (C)  in  the  form  (c)  of  strong 
suggestion.  This  way  Binet  (6.  pp.  296  ff )  proceeded.  But 
it  may  be  objected  that  different  persons  are  asked  different 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  137 

questions.  This  objection  can,  however,  be  avoided,  if  one 
asks  further  questions  about  the  object  (II)  :  to  the  person 
(A)  in  the  form  (b),  to  (B)  in  the  form  of  (c)  and  to  (C) 
in  the  form  of  (a)  ;  and  further  about  the  object  (III)  :  to 
(A)  in  the  form  of  (c),  to  (B)  in  (a)  and  to  (C)  in  the 
form  (b). 

With  this  in  view,  Lipmann  and  Wendriner  (35.  pp. 
418  ff),  in  the  year  1904,  made  an  experiment  on  twelve 
children  of  ages  from  four  to  six,  using  the  picture  called 
the  '  Bauernstube!  The  questions  were  of  three  kinds, 
namely,  group  (a)  was  without  suggestion,  group  (b)  of  an 
expectant  nature,  and  group  (c)  contained  strong  suggestion 
and  was  composed  of  hypothetical  and  incomplete  disjunctive 
questions.  Each  child  was  asked  three  questions  of  each 
group.  The  results  were  with  group  (a),  the  right  statements 
amounted  to  94%  and  the  false  to  6% ;  with  group  (b)  75% 
and  25%  respectively  and  with  the  group  (c)  they  were  44% 
and  56%  respectively.  Because  of  the  testimony  by  too  small 
children,  we  can  not  draw  any  ultimate  inference  from  such 
results,  but  still  we  can  see  a  general  relation  among  these 
different  questions.  Lipmann  (33)  later  made  an  extensive 
experiment  which  gave  the  writer  much  valuable  material 
which  will  be  referred  to  later. 

There  are  two  more  important  investigations  on  questioning, 
one  by  Franken  (22)  in  1911  and  the  other  by  Bader  in  1912. 
Franken  considered  the  report  not  only  as  a  product  of  the 
intellect,  but  also  of  will.  With  this  in  view,  he  tried  to  test 
the  educability  of  the  power  to  report  in  children,  that  is, 
whether  children  can  be  taught  to  be  more  careful  in  stating 
that  they  do  or  do  not  know  this  or  that  thing.  His  subjects 
were  150  pupils  from  eleven  to  thirteen  years.  He  arranged 
200  questions  relating  to  data  in  history,  geography,  etc.  into 
two  series:  one  as  decisive  and  the  other  as  determining 
questions.  The  first  100  questions  begin  with  the  words: 
"  Do  you  know  "  so  as  to  be  answered  merely  by  "  yes  "  or 
"  no ; "  for  example,  "  Do  you  know  on  what  river  Lyons  is 
situated  ?  "  The  second  hundred  questions  are  so  formed  that 
a  specific  answer  is  to  be  given  directly,  for  instance,  "  On 
what  river  is  Lyons  situated  ? "  Among  other  results  he 
found  that  by  this  means  the  pupils  can  be  made  more 
cautious  in  their  answering,  though  the  false  answers  can  not 
be  fully  eliminated.  Some  of  the  other  results  will  be  referred 
to  later  on. 

Bader's  experiment  (3)  was  to  investigate  the  influence  of 
the  question,  on  reaction-time,  the  quality  and  quantity  of  an 


138  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

answer,  etc.     He  used  the  following  nine  different  forms  of 
questions  or  rather  stimulus  words  for  reactions.    (3.  pp.  3-4.) 

1.  What    is    the    activity    of    the    person    designated    by 
the    stimulus    word  ?      Stimulus    word :    "  soldier  " — answer : 
"  Marching." 

2.  What   idea   stands   in   a    customary   relation   with   the 
number  given  as  a  stimulus  word  ?    Stimulus  word :  "  Seven  " 
— answer :  "  Week."    And  so  on.     His  results  are  very  inter- 
esting and   agree  with  the  writer's  view   formulated  before 
reading  his  article. 

To  sum  up,  the  chief  points  of  the  results  obtained  by  all 
these  experimenters  in  regard  to  testimony  and  questioning 
are: 

1.  The  errorless  report  is   more   frequent  in  the  Bericht 
than  in  the  Verhor,  though  it  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule. 

2.  The  false  statements  of  the  Bericht  are  from  one-half 
to  one-sixth  of  those  of  the  Verhor. 

3.  The  range  of  the  Verhor  is  far  greater  than  that  of  the 
Bericht,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  accompanied  by  an  increase 
of  errors: 

4.  Hence  the  Bericht  is   far  more  trustworthy  than  the 
Verhor. 

5.  The  report  given  in  reply  to  normal  questions  is  gener- 
ally far  more  trustworthy  than  that  to  suggestive  questions. 

6.  The  ability  to  report  is  educable  to  a  certain  extent  by 
practice,  warning,  or  correlation. 

It  should,  however,  be  noted  that  the  results  above  enumer- 
ated are  merely  the  average  of  greatly  diversified  individual 
reports,  and  hence  show  neither  any  standard  nor  any  rule  for 
individual  ability. 

THE  WRITER'S  EXPERIMENTS 

As  a  result  of  their  experiments,  Binet,  Stern  and  others 
concluded  that  a  spontaneous  report  should  be  asked  first  and 
then  an  interrogatory  be  given  as  a  supplement  to  the  former, 
since  if  questions  are  asked  without  a  Bericht,  there  is  great 
danger  of  falsification  of  memory  induced  by  the  questions 
which  may  not  be  eliminated  later  on  by  any  means.  This 
is  certainly  true,  but  none  of  these  authors  have  shown  how 
far  this  is  true. 

i.  They  demanded  the  Bericht  first  and  then  the  Verhor, 
and  failed  to  find  out  what  influence  the  Bericht  has  on  what 
has  been  given  in  the  Verhor,  that  is,  what  would  be  the  result, 
if  the  Verhor  were  given  first  and  the  Bericht  followed. 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  139 

2.  Their  questions  were  on  points  not  reported  in  the 
Bericht,  that  is,  the  questions  were  not  on  every  point  concern- 
ing the  facts  under  consideration  but  only  on  the  omitted  ones. 
Although  Miss  Borst  did  this,  she  as  well  as  others  ignored 
or  rather  failed  to  find  what  influence  the  succeeding  Verhor 
had  upon  what  had  been  reported  in  the  Bericht. 

These  two  points  are  very  important  for  the  formulation  of 
any  rule  in  regard  to  the  order  or  place  of  the  Bericht  and  the 
Verhor  in  the  report  as  a  whole. 

With  these  points  in  view,  experiments  were  undertaken  to 
determine  whether  or  not  the  results  obtained  by  the  other 
investigators  are  applicable  in  any  way  to  the  subject  matter 
in  our  school  curricula. 

Only  the  following  points  are  considered  in  this  paper. 

1.  What  is  the  relation:    (i)    between  the  Bericht  given 
first  and  the  Verhor  following;  (2)  between  the  Verhor  first 
and  the  Bericht  succeeding. 

2.  What  is   the  relation  between  normal  and  suggestive 
questions  ? 

3.  What  is  the  relation  between  questions  suggesting  the 
right  answer  and   questions    suggesting  the   wrong  answer? 
Here  by  suggestive  questions  we  mean  the  so-called  expectant 
as  well  as  the  '  yes  or  no '  questions. 

METHOD  OF  EXPERIMENT 

As  our  interest  is  in  practical  application,  we  selected 
our  materials  from  Frye's  Grammar  School  Geography 
and  Adam's  Commercial  Geography ;  the  section  on  the  Surface 
of  South  America  and  the  section  on  the  Guianas.  (See 
appendix.)  The  experiments  were  carried  out  at  two  different 
times,  one,  at  Dix  Street  School,  in  February  and  the  other  at 
Edgeworth  Street  School,  in  April,  1913,  at  Worcester,  Mass. 
Both  were  partly  conducted  by  the  teachers  of  each  class  and 
partly  by  the  writer  personally,  but  always  under  the  writer's 
guidance. 

In  the  first  experiment  the  number  of  pupils  was  ninety, 
twenty-one  from  grade  7-1,  twenty-seven  from  7-2,  twenty-six 
from  8-1,  and  sixteen  from  8-2;  but  three  of  grade  7-2  and 
one  of  grade  7-1  are  not  included  in  our  numerical  calculation, 
as  they  did  not  finish  their  work  in  time.  In  the  second 
experiment,  forty-four  pupils  took  part:  eleven  from  grade 
7-1,  ten  from  grade  7-2,  thirteen  from  grade  8-1  and  ten  from 
grade  8-2.  Both  of  8-2  were  given  the  section  on  the  Guianas 
as  subject-matter  which  they  reviewed  silently  for  ten  minutes 


14°  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

before  the  Bericht  and  the  Verhbr  were  required ;  the  rest  of 
the  pupils  were  given  the  section  on  the  Surface  of  South 
America  which  they  reviewed  about  six  to  seven  minutes 
before  the  Verhbr  or  the  Bericht  was  required.  The  time  for 
the  Bericht  was  about  fifteen  minutes  and  that  for  the  Verhbr 
about  twenty  minutes.  The  pupils  of  both  grade  7-1,  and  those 
of  grades  7-2,  8-1,  and  8-2  in  the  second  experiment  answered 
the  Verhbr  first  and  then  gave  the  Bericht;  and  those  of  7-2, 
8-1  and  8-2  of  the  first  experiment  gave  the  Bericht  first  and 
then  replied  to  the  Verhbr.  In  the  experiment  when  the 
Verhbr  was  given  first,  care  was  taken  to  erase  the  questions 
entirely  from  the  blackboard  before  the  Bericht  was  demanded, 
and  also  to  make  clear  to  the  pupils  that  they  should  report 
again  all  that  they  knew  on  the  subject  in  the  Verhbr. 

The  suggestive  questions  were  formulated  according  to  Lip- 
mann's  advice,  that  is,  different  forms  of  the  suggestive 
questions  were  asked  on  the  same  subject-matter  but  to  the 
different  observers  so  that  the  suggestiveness  of  the  questions 
might  be  compared.  The  pupils  of  grade  8-1  in  the  second 
experiment  were  not  asked  suggestive  questions  but  the 
normal  questions.  During  the  experiment  every  precaution 
was  taken  not  to  give  any  suggestion  whatever. 

NUMERICAL  CALCULATION  OF  DATA 

The  following  device  for  estimating  our  data  was  adopted, 
after  various  methods  had  been  tried,  as  giving  the  fairest 
treatment : 

A.  In  regard  to  the  data  on  the  Guianas. 

1.  A  complete  answer  to  each  question  was  credited  as  one 
point. 

2.  An    answer   that  gave   one   datum    where   a   question 
demanded  two  data  was  counted  as  half  a  unit. 

3.  Answers  to  some  of  the  questions  (such  as  n,  12,  and 
14.     See  Appendix.)  were  not  demanded  in  full.     If  a  pupil 
gave  two  names  of  the  products  or  goods  for  exportation  or 
importation,  he  was  credited  one  point,  if  he  gave  only  one 
name,  he  was  credited  half  a  point. 

These  regulations  were  followed  in  estimating  the  data  in 
the  corresponding  Bericht. 

B.  As  to  the  data  regarding  the  Surface  of  South  America. 

1.  A  fact  involved  in  each  question  was  counted  as  one 
unit. 

2.  In  the  corresponding  Bericht,  the  same  rule  was  applied, 
but  here  a  few  exceptions  were  made. 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  14! 

a.  If  a  pupil  reported :     "  The  vast  forests  in  the  Amazon 
river  basin  are  called  Selvas,"  he  was  awarded  two  points, 
since  this  report  contained  two  facts  corresponding  to  two 
questions  in  the  Verhdr;  but  if  a  pupil  reported :    "  The  vast 
forests  in  South  America  are  called  Selvas,"  he  received  only 
one  point,  as  it  gave  only  one  fact. 

b.  If  a  pupil  reported :     "  The  Andes  highland  lies  along 
the  west  coast  of  South  America,  he  was  credited  with  two 
points,  though  this  answer,  strictly  speaking,  is  not  complete, 
since  it  is  important  to  know  that  the  Andes  is  the  primary  or 
greatest  highland. 

c.  If    a    pupil    stated :      "  There   are   three   plains    called 
pampas,  llanos,  and  selvas,"  he  was  credited  one  point,  since 
some  pupils  thought  that  selvas  meant  a  grassy  plain  in  the 
south,  while  pampas  meant  a  forest  in  the  Amazon  basin,  etc. 

As  a  whole  these  were  the  only  difficulties,  and  so  few  in 
number  that  any  alteration  in  the  crediting  caused  but  a  small 
fraction  of  change  in  the  percentage.  The  question  naturally 
arises :  Does  not  the  pupil  make  any  statements  in  the 
Bericht  in  addition  to  those  contained  in  the  sections  employed 
for  the  experiment  ?  To  my  surprise  only  five  such  statements 
intruded  into  the  spontaneous  reports:  two  pupils  added 
"  Plata  river ; "  another  two  "  Orinoco  river "  and  one 
"  Guiana  highland."  These  five  points  were  credited,  if  the 
statement  was  clear. 

RESULTS 

Our  results  are  as  a  whole  very  similar  to  those  obtained 
by  the  other  investigators  as  the  following  tables  show.  That 
is,  our  results  show  that  the  Verhdr  gives  far  greater  range 
of  report  in  quantity,  but  much  worse  in  quality  than  the 
Bericht.  It  is,  however,  to  be  noted  here  that  while  this  is 
always  true  of  the  general  average,  it  is  by  no  means  true  of 
each  individual.  Five  pupils  made  no  errors  in  either  the 
Verhdr  or  the  Bericht.  Tabulating  the  reports  of  the  normal 
questions,  we  have  fourteen  out  of  130  pupils  who  obtained  the 
full  credit  for  every  one  of  the  questions.  In  both  spontaneous 
reports  it  is  rather  surprising  to  find  that  ninety-five  out  of 
130  pupils  committed  no  errors. 


142 


A  STUDY  OP  QUESTIONING 
RESULTS  OF  FIRST  EXPERIMENT 


G 

rade 

7-1 

G] 

rade 

7-2 

1 

f 

r 

f 

f 

r 

f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

Bericht  

6.4 

•  14 

07.  7 

2  .  •? 

5.8 

•7  C 

O4.    3 

57 

Verhor 

18  * 

41 

i   6 

81  6 

18  4. 

18  7 

42 

T     r 

8l     7 

18   7 

"  '0 

x  O 

OA  .  ^ 

10.    ] 

Normal  q.  .  . 

12.4 

2.4 

I  .2 

83.8 

16.2 

12.5 

2-3 

I  .2 

84.4 

I5.6 

Sugg,  q  

5-9 

1.76 

•34 

77- 

23- 

5.6 

2  .  I 

•3 

72.7 

27-3 

G 

rade 

8-1 

G] 

rade 

3-2 

f 

r 

f 

f 

r 

f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

Bericht  .... 

r    2 

.  1$ 

Q2      7 

6  * 

e    8 

2 

96  6 

34 

Verhor  

I7.Q 

(T  . 

i  .  i 

78.1 

21  .  O 

13.4 

2  .  I 

i  .  ^ 

86  4 

13  6 

Normal  q.  .  . 

I2.3 

2.9 

.8 

81. 

IQ. 

8.5 

I  .  I 

1.4 

88.5 

"•5 

Sugg,  q  

5-6 

2.15 

•25 

72.2 

27.8 

4.94 

I  . 

.06 

83.1 

16.9 

In  the  above  table,  with  grade  7-1,  and  in  the  following  table  on  the 

next  page  with  all  grades  the   Verhdr  was  given  first  and  then  the 

Bericht,  while  with  all  the  rest  the  Bericht  was  given  first  and  the 
Verhor  followed. 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 
RESULTS  OF  SECOND  EXPERIMENT 


Grade  7-1 

Grade  7-2 

r 

f 

u 

r 

f 

r 

f 

u 

r 

f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

Verh5r  

19. 

4.1 

•9 

82.2 

17.8 

19.8 

3-65 

•55 

84.4 

15.6 

Bericht.  .  .  . 

7-7 

•54 

93-4 

6.6 

8.1 

.6 

93  -1 

6.9 

Normal  q  .  . 

13  .18 

2.36 

.46 

84.8 

15.2 

13.8 

1.85 

•35 

88.1 

11.9 

Sugg.  q.  .  .  . 

6.2 

i-S 

•3 

80.5 

19-5 

5-9 

1.8 

•3 

76.6 

23-4 

Grade  8-1 

Grade  8-2 

r 

f 

u 

r 

f 

r 

f 

u 

r 

f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

r+f 

Verh6r  

18.3 

4.1 

1.6 

81.7 

18.3 

13*05 

3-1 

1.85 

80.8 

19.2 

Bericht  

6. 

•  4 

93-7 

6-3 

S-i 

.  i 

98. 

2. 

Normal  q.  . 

9.1 

!-55 

J-35 

85-4 

I4.6 

Sugg.  q.... 

4-3 

J-5 

.2 

74.1 

25-9 

I.  Relation  between  the  Bericht  given  first  and  the  suc- 
ceeding Verhbr.  A  certain  number  of  the  statements  given 
in  the  Bericht  were  altered  rightly  or  wrongly  in  the  succeeding 
Verhbr  as  follows: 


CORRECTIONS 


Pupils 

r  tof 

r  to  u 

f  tof 

f  to  r 

f  to  u 

7—2  (7  pupils).  . 

7 

-i 

•7 

2 

8—i  (n  pupils)  

16 

A 

8—2  (6  pupils) 

6 

Total  .  . 

26 

6 

6 

In  other  words,  thirty-nine  correct  statements  out  of  the 
total  402.5  given  by  the  sixty-six  pupils  in  their  Bericht  were 
changed  wrongly  in  the  succeeding  Verhbr  by  twenty-four 


144  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

pupils.  For  instance,  in  the  Bericht,  two  pupils  reported  that 
the  Andes  highland  lies  along  the  western  coast  of  South 
America,  but  in  the  Verhor  they  answered  question  7,  "  the 
Brazilian  highland."  Another  boy  and  girl  reported  that  the 
Amazon  river  flows  from  the  Andes  highland  and  is  the 
largest  in  the  world,  but  they  answered  question  15,  '*  from  the 
Brazilian  highland."  Some  pupils  reported  in  the  Bericht, 
"  the  coast  of  South  America  is  not  as  irregular  as  that  of 
North  America,"  but  they  answered  question  3,  b,  with  "  yes, 
it  is  as  irregular  as  that  of  North  America."  Two  girls  of 
grade  8-2  reported  that  the  British  and  Dutch  planters  plant 
coffee  and  cocoa  in  place  of  the  sugar-cane  because  the  price 
of  cane-sugar  has  declined,  but  they  failed  to  answer  question  5. 
On  the  other  hand,  six  of  the  total  18.5  false  statements  in  the 
Bericht  remained  false  in  the  Verhor;  the  other  six  of  the  18.5 
false  statements  were  corrected  by  the  questions  in  the  Verhor; 
while  the  other  two  were  changed  to  the  answers :  "  I  don't 
know."  Thus  we  may  justly  infer  that  the  Verhor  is  more 
likely  to  make  the  right  statements  of  the  Bericht  false  than 
to  change  the  wrong  statements  to  right  ones. 

The  question  naturally  arises  here:  Why  should  questions 
as  a  whole  have  such  an  influence  even  upon  what  was  given 
correctly  in  the  Bericht?  The  reason  which  we  shall  discuss 
later  on  may  be  stated  here  briefly  as  follows :  The  pupils  are 
now  questioned  after  they  have  given  what  they  thought  true 
and  correct,  and  this  inquiry  draws  their  attention  to  the  idea 
so  intensely  that  it  rouses  in  their  minds  an  element  of  doubt 
and  causes  them  to  become  more  suggestible. 

II.  Relation  between  the  Verhor  given  -first  and  the  Bericht 
following.  To  determine  this  has  never  been  undertaken  by 
any  of  the  investigators.  It  becomes  thus  one  of  the  chief 
points  of  interest  in  our  experiments.  We  said  as  a  result  of 
the  experiments  hitherto  performed  that  the  questions  influence 
our  memory  so  much  that  any  distortion  right  or  wrong  may 
not  be  eiadicated  later.  From  this  it  might  be  supposed  that 
after  a  given  lesson  had  been  studied  for  a  certain  period  of 
time,  if  questions  be  asked  that  cover  each  fact,  one  should  be 
able  to  give  a  far  better  report  in  the  succeeding  Bericht  on 
the  same  subject-matter  than  if  asked  to  give  a  Bericht 
immediately  after  the  study  and  before  the  detailed  questions. 
Indeed  the  questions  preceding  the  Bericht  analyze  the  whole 
subject  matter  clearly  into  points  and  connect  them  with  the 
questions  so  that  they  serve  as  a  sort  of  resume  and  may  thus 
facilitate  the  succeeding  Bericht.  And  to  a  certain  extent  this 
hypothesis  is  true,  but  not  so  completely  as  might  naturally  be 
expected.  If  we  compare  the  results  from  grades  7-1  and  7-2 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  14$ 

in  the  first  experiment,  which  are  most  justly  comparable, 
because  the  pupils  were  taught  by  the  same  teacher  under  the 
same  conditions,  we  see  only  a  slight  difference ;  again  the 
results  from  grade  8-1  in  the  second  experiment,  where  no 
suggestive  questions  were  used,  and  8-1  in  the  first  experiment, 
and  from  8-2  in  both  experiments  show  merely  slight  better- 
ment, although  7-1  and  7-2  of  the  second  experiment  show 
rather  better  work  than  any  other. 

Furthermore,  the  Bericht  that  followed  the  Verhor  revealed 
a  most  interesting  phenomenon:  nine  correct  statements  out 
of  the  total  478  given  in  the  Bericht  by  the  pupils  of  grades 
7-1,  7-2,  8-1  and  8-2,  were  not  answered  by  them,  when 
questioned  in  the  preceding  Verhor;  forty-five  correct  state- 
ments of  the  478  were  the  correction  of  what  was  stated 
falsely  in  the  previous  Verhor;  sixteen  false  statements  of  the 
478  were  the  remainders  of  what  was  already  given  falsely 
in  the  Verhor;  and  three  false  statements  of  the  478  were  the 
falsification  of  what  was  given  rightly  in  the  Verhor.  For 
example :  one  girl  answered,  "  no,  it  does  not,"  to  question  16, 
b,  but  in  the  succeeding  Bericht  she  said  that  the  surface  of 
South  America  resembles  that  of  North  America.  One  boy 
answered  the  question  22  (what  are  the  vast  forests  in  Brazil 
called?  Answer,  selvas),  with  "They  are  called  pampas," 
but  in  the  following  Bericht  said :  "  The  vast  forests  of  Brazil 
in  the  Amazon  basin  are  called  Selvas." 

These  facts  show  clearly:  that  the  influence  of  the  Verhor 
upon  the  succeeding  Bericht  is  rather  slight,  that  the  mental 
activity  of  the  children  in  the  Bericht  differs  from  that  in  the 
Verhor  where  they  are  made  abnormal  and  passive,  being 
compelled  by  the  external  influence  of  the  questions,  while  in 
the  Bericht  they  are  self-dependent,  being  free  from  any  exter- 
nal compulsion ;  or  in  other  words,  we  may  say  that  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  pupils  towards  the  Verhor  is  different  from 
that  towards  the  Bericht. 

In  regard  to  the  so-called  sequence  or  place  of  the  Bericht 
and  the  Verhor,  we  are  made  a  little  skeptical  about  the  state- 
ment that  the  Verhor  should  be  subordinate  to  the  Bericht  as  a 
sort  of  supplement.  It  is  certainly  better  to  ask  the  Bericht  first 
and  then  give  the  Verhor  on  those  points  not  stated  in  the  Ber- 
icht so  that  any  distortion  of  what  was  given  in  the  Bericht  may 
be  avoided  in  the  Verhor;  but  if  our  inference  is  correct,  that  is, 
if  mental  activity  in  the  Bericht  has  a  peculiar  tendency  to 
correct  what  was  given  falsely  in  the  Verhor,  then  is  it  not  also 
useful  to  demand  a  second  Bericht  after  the  Verhor?  In 
school  practice,  and  even  in  the  court  where  we  do  not  know 


146  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

anything  about  the  event,  we  may  ask  questions  first  and  then 
demand  the  Bericht  just  as  well  as  to  give  the  Bericht  first  and 
then  the  Verhor,  so  long  as  there  is  no  hypothetical,  incomplete 
disjunctive  and  sequential  question  in  the  series  of  the  given 
questions.  The  writer  does  not  disregard  the  suggestive  influ- 
ence of  questions  by  any  means,  but  wishes  to  emphasize  the 
significance  of  the  mental  attitude  in  the  Bericht. 

In  order  to  avoid  repetition,  the  rest  of  our  results  will  be 
given  in  connection  with  the  discussion  of  the  other  aspects  of 
our  problem. 

DIFFERENCE  OF  PSYCHIC  ACTIVITIES  IN  THE  BERICHT  AND 
THE  VERHOR 

Why  is  the  Bericht  always  more  trustworthy  than  the 
Verhor?  Why  is  the  range  of  the  Bericht  always  far  smaller 
than  that  of  the  Verhor? 

The  psychic  after-effects  of  the  impressions  received  in  the 
observation  are  of  various  degrees  of  intensity,  vividness  and 
clearness.  The  things  observed  with  interest  and  attention 
are  apt  to  be  most  firmly  fixed  and  thus  be  kept  most  clear, 
while  those  perceived  inattentively  or  unconsciously  leave 
behind  only  insignificant  traces  or  none  at  all.  (58.  p.  329.) 
Intense,  vivid  and  clear  images  or  ideas  lie  always  nearest  to 
the  threshold  of  consciousness  waiting,  so  to  speak,  for  the 
imperative  impulse  for  self-expression  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
of  inhibition.  Such  ideas  take  precedence  in  the  Bericht.  In 
addition  to  these,  the  observers  with  more  or  less  effort  raise 
above  the  threshold  many  ideas  of  somewhat  vague  poten- 
tiality which  have  lost  their  clearness  and  obtrusive  character 
in  comparison  with  those  of  the  first  group,  although  still 
possessing  sufficient  persistence  to  come  within  the  sphere  of 
voluntary  recollection  (58).  Hence  the  Bericht  is  not 
passive,  but  active  in  the  highest  degree.  It  is  a  more  or  less 
powerful  and  independent  conscious  selection  of  the  most  vivid 
and  clear  ideas  in  memory  to  which  is  attached  the  feeling 
of  the  greatest  certainty  and,  above  all,  of  spontaneity. 
Because  of  this  will-activity  with  a  feeling  of  spontaneity,  any 
vague  ambiguous  and  uncertain  ideas  are  rejected.  Conse- 
quently the  Bericht  is  good  in  quality  though  unfortunately 
its  range  is  small.  This  psychic  activity  in  the  Bericht  can  be 
further  verified  by  the  results  of  experimentation.  Roden- 
waldt  gave  his  observers  an  opportunity  to  look  at  the  picture 
again  in  order  that  their  self-correction  might  be  made  in  both 
the  Bericht  and  the  Verhor.  This  showed  that  the  correction 
of  the  Bericht  was  so  small,  as  to  amount  only  to  one-seventh 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  147 

of  the  total  false  statements  in  the  Bericht,  while  two-fifths  of 
the  false  statements  in  the  Verhor  were  corrected.  This  clearly 
shows  that  the  confidence  in  the  Bericht  was  so  great  that  there 
was  no  thought  of  correction.  (58.  pp.  325-326.) 

It  is  quite  different  with  the  Verhor.  The  activity  here  is 
passive  or  reactive  in  a  sense  of  being  constrained  from 
without, — though  it  is  quite  necessary  and  helpful  for  recall 
of  what  the  spontaneous  report  fails  to  give.  The  effect  of 
a  question  or  theme  for  recollection  is  twofold  (24)  :  it  offers  a 
key  to  open  the  store-house  of  the  latent  ideas  which  otherwise 
may  remain  continuously  submerged,  or  it  may  draw  the 
observer's  attention  to  a  gap  in  his  knowledge  so  that  he 
attempts  to  fill  it  with  an  answer  of  some  sort.  And  this  is 
done  quite  often  from  an  irresistible  impulse,  since  every 
question,  even  the  most  indifferent,  the  most  cautious  and  the 
most  unsuggestive,  as  appears  in  the  experiments,  is  more  than 
a  mere  question.  It  is  a  command  for  a  recollection  and  the 
production  of  a  certain  answer  (58.  p.  330).  This  double 
effect  of  a  question  in  suggesting  to  an  observer  a  true  or  false 
answer  is  clearly  seen  in  all  the  results  mentioned.  So  great 
is  the  wish  to  give  a  certain  answer,  that  the  critical  power  is 
weakened.  Hence  the  increase  in  quantity  and  the  deteriora- 
tion in  quality  in  the  report.  The  psychological  conditions  of 
the  false  answers  are  very  different  and  depend  on  many 
factors  which  will  be  discussed  later. 

Obviously  there  are  disadvantages  in  both  the  Bericht  and 
the  Verhor.  Testing  the  mental  state  of  a  child  by  either 
would  be  a  defective  method.  As  Stern  (58)  and  Wreschner 
(70)  state,  the  spontaneous  report  allows  very  great  latitude 
in  individual  voluntary  activity  and  this  causes  some  observers 
to  notice  very  few,  and  others  very  many  details,  thus  making 
the  comparison  of  the  different  observers  a  particularly  difficult 
problem.  Moreover,  we  can  not  state  justly  whether  a  failure 
in  regard  to  a  certain  fact  or  point  in  the  Bericht  is  due  to 
a  lack  of  retention  or  failure  in  the  power  of  immediate  recall. 
Hence  neither  the  Bericht  nor  the  Verhor  taken  separately  give 
the  real  mental  status  of  the  observer.  They  must  go  hand  in 
hand.  We  must  remember  what  we  have  already  shown  that 
to  neglect  to  train  the  power  in  the  Bericht,  and  to  rely  on  the 
Verhor  alone  is  to  make  children  passive  and  halting  in  their 
self-expression  and  independent  mental  activity. 

The  following  examples  taken  from  the  answers  given  by 
our  observers  show  the  great  individual  variations  among 
pupils.  Some  can  do  good  work  respectively  in  both  the 


148  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

Bericht  and  the  Verhbr,  while  most  of  the  observers  fail  in  the 
Bericht,  not  only  when  given  before  but  also  after  the  Verhbr, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  can  do  fairly  good  work  in  the 
Verhbr.  One  boy  who  could  answer  in  the  following  Verhbr 
twenty-three  questions  correctly  out  of  twenty-four,  gave  his 
Bericht: 

"  South  America  is  mountainous  in  the  northern,  eastern  and  south- 
ern part  it  is  lowlands  in  the  central  part  and  hilly  in  the  western 
part.  ( 12-year-old.)" 

A  fifteen-year-old  boy  gave  this  Bericht,  but  answered 
nineteen  out  of  twenty-four  questions  in  the  Verhbr  following. 

"  South  America  has  a  narrow  surface  center  a  level  plain  on  the 
north  and  south  and  a  mountain  highland  on  the  east  and  west  with 
an  irregular  coastline." 

On  the  other  hand,  a  fifteen-year-old  boy  answered  only 
eight  out  of  seventeen  questions,  though  he  had  given  the 
following  excellent  Bericht. 

"The  three  Guianas  (British,  Dutch  and  French)  are  interested  in 
the  production  of  cane-sugar  and  its  by-products,  molasses  and  rum. 
Owing  to  the  decline  in  the  price  of  sugar-cane,  the  British  planters 
have  replaced  it  by  coffee  and  cocoa.  The  British  supply  one  half 
of  the  fuel  and  coal  used,  and  the  United  States  one  fourth.  A 
large  amount  of  rubber  is  produced  in  the  Guianas,  and  an  important 
amount  of  gold.  Most  of  the  cultivation  is  done  on  a  narrow  strip 
of  land  near  the  coast,  where  most  of  the  people  live.  Paramimbo 
is  the  important  trade  center  at  Dutch  Guiana,  and  trade  of  French 
Guiana." 

A  thirteen-year-old  girl  had  answered  correctly  twenty  out 
of  twenty-four  questions,  but  gave  a  poor  Bericht  after  the 
Verhbr,  viz. 

"  South  America  is  very  mountanous,  it  has  a  higher  highland  on 
the  west  and  a  lesser  highland  on  the  east  and  a  great  plain  between." 

A  twelve-year-old  boy  had  answered  only  fourteen  out  of 
twenty-four  questions,  but  gave  a  fine  Bericht  after  the 
Verhbr,  viz. 

"  South  America  resembles  North  America  in  shape,  etc.  The 
northern  part  is  wide  but  tapers  towards  the  south.  There  are  great 
mountains  on  the  west  and  smaller  highland  on  the  east.  The  Andes 
highland  on  the  west  is  long  and  narrow;  and  higher  than  the  rocky 
mountains  of  North  America.  The  highland  of  Brazil  on  the  eastern 
part  is  wide  but  not  nearly  as  high  as  the  Andes.  There  is  a  great 
plain  between  these  two  highlands  called  the  central  part.  It  is 
divided  into  three  sections.  The  central  part  along  the  Amazon 
river  is  called  selvas  meaning  forests.  The  northern  part  is  called 
llanos  meaning  grassy  plains,  the  southern  part  called  pampas  also 
means  grassy  plains." 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  149 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  ANSWER  DEPENDS  ON  THE  FORM  OF  THE 

QUESTION 

There  are  various  forms  of  suggestive  questions,  though  not 
always  perceived  as  such.  Stern  says  that  hardly  any  ideal 
question  is  an  entirely  unsuggestive  question.  (58.  p.  339.) 
Hence  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  suggestion  in  the  T/erhor.  (64.) 
Against  the  above  statement  of  Stern,  Miss  Borst  (9.  p.  78) 
argues  as  follows :  "  I  can  not  agree  with  him.  According 
to  my  opinion,  there  is  suggestion  only  when  we  put  to  an 
observer  a  question  which  refers  itself  to  an  object  which  was 
not  present  in  the  picture  or  the  like  employed  for  the  experi- 
ment, and  by  means  of  which  a  false  idea  will  be  smuggled 
into  the  observer's  mind.  All  other  questions,  however,  which 
refer  themselves  to  a  really  presented  thing,  build  only  a 
support  for  recollection,  and  that  is  exactly  what  is  aimed  at 
by  the  Verhor"  (9.  p.  78.)  Thus  she  means  by  a  suggestive 
question  one  which  gives  a  false  suggestion,  but,  as  we  shall 
see  later,  we  know  that  a  question  may  suggest  a  right  answer. 
Moreover,  what  does  her  phrase  "  a  support  for  recollection  " 
mean?  Does  it  not  mean  a  narrowing  or  limitation  of  our 
conscious  activity,  leading  or  inducing  the  observer  to  focus 
his  attention  on  a  certain  idea  or  ideas?  When  the  mind  of 
the  observer  becomes  more  and  more  a  blank  as  the  result  of 
voluntary  inhibition  of  ideas  or  associations,  he  is  more  apt  to 
yield  to  suggestion.  This  is  because  the  power  of  suggestion 
often  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  mind  is  centered  on  only 
one  or  two  ideas ;  all  distractions  are  carefully  excluded,  and 
much  greater  power  is  therefore  manifested  along  the 
restricted  line  than  when  the  mind  is  attending  to  many  stimuli 
simultaneously  or  in  rapid  succession.  Inhibition  of  all  ideas 
but  one  greatly  intensifies  the  one. 

Along  this  special  train  of  thought  we  are  prone  to  be 
swept  by  suggestion.  Does  there  not  then  in  the  function  of 
support  for  recollection  lie  a  suggestive  influence  which  she 
seems  to  ignore  ?  It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  every  question 
is  not  suggestion,  but  there  is  suggestion  in  every  question. 
She  further  says :  "  One  observer,  for  instance,  forgot  to 
name  an  apron  in  his  enumeration  of  the  articles  of  clothing, 
and  I  put  to  him  the  question,  whether  the  child  had  on  an 
apron  or  not?  Here  we  have  certainly  nothing  to  do  with  a 
suggestive  question,  for  there  is  no  ground  at  all  which  to 
the  observer  would  suggest  a  positive  answer  rather  than  a 
negative  one."  (9.  p.  78.)  But  if  the  observer  failed  to 
notice  the  apron,  as  Breukink  (n)  found,  he  might  get 
a  suggestion  from  such  a  question.  We  can  not,  however, 
agree  with  Stern  (64)  when  he  says  that  it  is  absurd 


150  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

to  ask,  for  instance,  about  the  color  of  a  hat,  when  the 
observer  has  not  named  it  in  his  enumeration  of  articles  of 
clothing.  He  maintains  that  by  this  question  suggestion  will 
be  made ;  for  when  the  observer  omits  the  naming  of  the  hat, 
it  shows  that  he  had  no  recollection  of  its  existence.  Miss 
Borst  remarks,  I  do  not  understand  this  objection :  "  Tht 
investigations  of  memory  teach  us  (and  Stern  himself  ha* 
emphasized  this)  that  it  can  not  be  said  that  a  recollection  has 
vanished  from  the  memory.  Even  when  it  does  not  occur 
spontaneously ;  elements  of  recollection  can  remain  latent  in 
memory.  The  purpose  of  the  Verhbr  is  precisely  to  revive 
these  elements  of  recollection  from  their  latency."  (9.  p.  79.) 
All  the  other  investigations  as  well  as  our  own  have  shown 
that  the  observers  have  failed  to  mention  certain  things,  yet 
answer  questions  in  regard  to  them  with  certainty.  It  is  a 
question  whether  or  not  such  an  answer  is  suggested  or  a  real 
memory.  Probably  both  factors  co-operate  in  such  a  case. 
A  question  as  a  whole  has  not  a  suggestive  influence  when  the 
memory  is  clear,  vivid  and  strong,  and  accompanied  by  a 
feeling  of  certainty.  On  the  contrary,  every  question  is  apt  to 
be  suggestive  when  the  memory  is  vague,  obscure  and 
uncertain. 

The  suggestiveness  of  the  questions  may  be  graded  artifici- 
ally according  to  the  logically-grammatical  form  of  the 
questions. 

Attention  was  drawn  to  this  problem  first  by  Binet  (6.  pp. 
297  ff),  but  the  more  elaborate  gradation  was  left  to  Stern 
(58.  pp.  338-345)  and  later  taken  up  by  Lipmann.  Stern 
grades  the  suggestiveness  of  the  questions  beginning 
with  the  least  suggestive  as  follows:  (i)  The  determining 
question  (Bestimmungsfrage),  or  the  question  introduced  with 
interrogative-pronoun  or  adverb:  which,  who,  where,  why, 
etc ;  (2)  the  complete  disjunctive  question  or  the  "  yes  or  no  " 
question;  (3)  the  incomplete  disjunctive  question  or  the 
"  either-or "  question;  (4)  the  expectant  (leading)  question 
or  the  "  yes  "  question  or  "  no  "  question;  (5)  the  hypothetical 
and  (6)  the  sequential  question  (Folgefrage).  Lipmann  (33. 
pp.  58-60)  used  practically  the  same  distinctions.  Each  of 
these  forms  of  the  questions  has  its  own  peculiar  psychological 
significance  or  function.  We  shall  follow  the  analysis  of 
Stern. 

The  determining  question  offers  a  wide  field  of  ideas  within 
which  an  observer  can  exercise  his  own  power  of  free  choice. 
Hence  he  can  be  self-assertive  in  his  answer;  for  instance: 
what  is  A?  Describe  B?  has  no  limitation  for  the  field  of 
ideation  about  A  or  B.  Such  a  question  simply  appeals  to  the 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  151 

memory  without  suggestion.  Thus  it  is  considered  as  the 
most  indifferent  and  harmless  question. 

The  complete  disjunctive  question,  or  the  "yes  or  no" 
question,  requires  the  observer  to  decide  between  the  two 
ideas  offered  by  the  question,  or  between  '  yes  '  and  '  no/  one  of 
which  is  always  false.  For  example:  Was  that  A  or  not? 
Here  the  idea  A  is  presented  to  be  selected  or  negated  from 
the  vast  field  of  other  ideas,  and  apparently  there  is  no  limita- 
tion for  the  answer.  But  when  we  introspect,  we  perceive  the 
idea  A  clearly  and  distinctly  with  vague  ideas  coming  and 
going  in  our  conscious  field,  as  its  back-ground.  Consequently 
the  idea  A  has  an  affirmative,  while  the  rest  have  a  negative 
tone.  The  only  chance  is  either  to  affirm  or  negate  A.  This 
limitation  in  the  selection  of  the  answer  renders  the  suggestion 
more  influential  than  the  preceding  question. 

According  to  both  Stern  and  Lipmann,  the  tendency  to 
answer  "  yes "  is  stronger  than  that  to  answer  "  no,"  but 
Borst  takes  an  opposite  view.  This  may  be  due  either  to  the 
special  influence  of  her  oral  questioning  or  to  difference  of 
suggestibility  of  the  observers,  as  it  is  found  by  Goddard  (23. 
p.  4)  that  a  certain  type  of  child  will  always  answer  the  last 
of  two  alternatives.  Our  experiment  also  shows  that  a  certain 
child  answers  always  with  "  yes,"  and  another  always  with 
"  no,"  no  matter  whether  the  question  is  a  "  yes  or  no  "  ques- 
tion or  expectant  question,  but  the  tendency  to  answer  "  yes  " 
is  far  stronger. 

Lipmann  says  (33.  p.  58)  that  the  complete  disjunctive 
question,  for  instance :  It  is  A  or  B  ?  is  less  suggestive  than  the 
"  yes  or  no  "  question,  e.  g.,  Is  it  A  ?  This  is  to  be  contrary 
to  the  result  of  writer's  own  introspection.  The  form,  "  Is  it 
A  or  B  ?  "  suggests  dual  or  rival  determination,  presupposing 
belief  in  a  sphere  of  existence  in  which  either  supposition  or 
both  may  have  confirmation  according  to  the  meaning.  Though 
there  is  surely  suspense  as  to  which  of  the  possible  assertions 
is  to  be  accepted,  but  the  certainty  of  the  issue  to  be  A  or  B 
or  both  is  expressed,  and  consequently  the  field  of  ideation  is 
exhausted  by  A  and  B  (15.  p.  347).  On  the  other  hand, 
"  yes  or  no  "  question,  e.  g.,  "  Is  it  A  or  not?  *'  or  "  Is  it  A?  " 
are  of  an  indefinite  alternative  over  against  the  definite 
alternation  of  the  complete  disjunctive  question,  because  "  it 
may  be  A,"  or  it  may  be  something  else.  Of  course  it  may 
happen  to  be  exclusive,  if  "  it  is  A,"  but  never  exhaustive  in 
its  suggestive  influence  like  the  complete  disjunctive  question 
proper. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  "  yes  or  no "  question  which  are 
ignored  by  the  great  majority  of  questioners.  A  question, 


152 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 


"  Is  it  A  ?  "  is  called  a  true  "  yes  or  no  "  question,  when  the 
answer  A  is  true ;  and  it  is  called  a  false  "  yes  or  no  "  question, 
if  the  answer  A  is  false.  The  following  table  shows  the 
difference  of  suggestiveness  of  each  form  of  question  for 
117  pupils  in  our  experiments. 


r 

f 

r 

f 

u 





r+f 

r+f 

True  yes-no-q 

2  ^ 

1  1 

8?     A. 

12     6 

False  yes-no-q  

1  10 

8c 

8 

*8   3 

4.  1     7 

Hence  it  appears  that  the  true  "  yes  or  no  "  question  pro- 
duces far  more  right  answers  in  every  case  than  the  false  one, 
while  the  latter  without  exception  produces  more  false 
answers  than  the  former.  Moreover  seven  of  117  pupils 
answered  with  "  yes,  so  and  so,"  and  three  with  "  no,  so  and 
so  "  to  every  "  yes  or  no  "  question  whether  or  not  its  content 
was  true  or  false.  From  these  results  it  appears  that  our 
school  children  are  not  only  suggestible  but  also  are  mechanized 
to  react  to  the  form  of  the  question  instead  of  to  its  content. 

The  expectant  question  (leading  question),  is  more  sug- 
gestive than  the  former  according  to  Stern  and  Lipmann, 
since  the  form  of  the  question  in  itself  represents  the  ques- 
tioner's expectation  and  leads  the  observer  to  accept  it  uncon- 
sciously. Take,  for  example,  a  question :  "  Was  it  not  A  ?  " 
and  analyze  it  into  the  two  parts :  "It  was  A"  and  "was  it  not  ?" 
The  first  part  affirms  that  it  was  A,  while  the  second  shows  a 
clearly  expressed  expectation.  The  mind  has  a  tendency  to 
accept  as  true  anything  that  enters  it.  A  belief  is  urged  from 
the  start  by  the  words  "  was  not."  The  suggested  idea  must, 
thus,  dominate,  even  when  the  observer  has  a  clear  knowledge 
of  it,  as  the  possibility  of  doubt  is  covered  by  the  probability 
of  the  expectation.  The  first  given  interpretation  persists  and 
is  taken  as  true  even  without  being  consciously  regarded 
as  true  or  false.  This  is  frequently  true  when  his  knowledge 
is  vague,  and  his  belief  in  the  questioner  is  strong.  The 
expectant  question  is,  according  to  Lipmann  and  also  in  the 
opinion  of  the  writer,  weaker  than  the  incomplete  disjunctive 
question,  for  the  former  causes  the  observer  to  appeal  to  his 
memory,  feeling  of  course  the  influence  of  the  insinuation 
which  results  from  the  question,  and  in  some  cases  the  word 
'  not '  serves  as  a  warning,  while  it  is  not  the  same  with  the 
incomplete  disjunctive  question  which  offers  two  ideas,  neither 
of  which  is  true,  presupposing  that  one  of  them  is  true. 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  153 

Lipmann  differentiates  the  expectant  question  as  false  and 
true  according  to  its  meaning.  For  example :  Is  it  not  A  ?  is 
true  if  asked,  when  the  answer  A  is  right,  and  it  is  false, 
when  the  answer  A  is  false.  His  result  shows  (33.  pp. 
69-70)  :  "  the  false  answers  were  diminished  about  24%  by  the 
right  expectant  questions,  and  the  right  answers  were 
diminished  about  iS%  by  the  false  expectant  question  in  rela- 
tion to  the  total  statements.  The  right  answers  were  increased 
about  12%  by  the  true  expectant  question  and  the  false 
answers  about  2%  by  the  false  one,  in  relation  to  the  total 
statements.  In  both  cases  the  suggestive  formulation  caused 
an  increase  of  the  uncertain  answers ;  with  the  true  expectant 
question  about  13%,  and  with  the  false  about  17%'.  Thus 
he  concludes  that  the  true  expectant  question  has  a  stronger 
influence  than  the  false,  and  that  the  former  brings  out  more 
right  and  fewer  false  answers  than  the  latter.  (33.  pp.  54, 
60,  61.) 

Our  experiments  with  117  pupils  confirm  Lipmann's  results. 
The  expectant  questions  gave:  r=i37,  f  — 27,  u  =  i,  that 
is,  the  true  statements  amounted  to  83.7%  and  the  false  ones 
to  16.3%,  while  with  the  false  expectant  questions,  r  — 98, 
f  =  55,  u  =  8,  that  is,  64%  and  36%  for  r  and  f  respectively. 

Furthermore  twelve  of  117  pupils  in  both  experiments 
answered  every  expectant  question,  whether  true  or  false,  with 
"  yes,  it  is  so,"  and  three  with  "  no,  so  and  so."  Here  again, 
the  children  are  habituated  to  react  to  the  form  of  questions, 
and  not  to  their  content.  It  is  of  a  vital  significance  for  a 
teacher  to  recognize  this  different  function  of  the  true  and 
false  questions,  as  each  gives  such  a  different  result  clearly 
shown  by  our  table. 

The  incomplete  disjunctive  question  is  stronger  in  its  sug- 
gestive influence  than  the  preceding  ones,  since  here  neither 
of  the  answers  can  be  right.  As,  in  case  of  the  complete  dis- 
junctive question,  the  possibility  of  an  answer  is  not  only 
logically  exhausted,  but  the  probability  of  a  wrong  answer  is 
very  great;  for  to  answer  independently  of  the  two  alterna- 
tives offered  requires  a  mental  self-reliance,  of  which  most  of 
us  are  not  capable.  This  type  of  the  question  too  can  be 
divided  into  two  forms :  true  and  false,  according  to  its  content. 

The  hypothetical  question  is  in  its  form  exactly  the  same 
as  that  of  the  determining  question,  for  instance :  "  what 
is  the  color  of  A?,"  and  must  be  valuated  unsuggestive  from 
the  stand-point  of  the  form.  But  suppose  that  the  observer 
until  questioned  did  not  know  of  the  existence  of  A,  what  will 
be  suggested?  He  will  surely  reason:  The  question  asks 
now  after  the  color  of  A,  then  there  must  have  been  A  (58. 


154  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

pp.  342-343).  He  will  thus  come  to  silently  accept  the 
intentional  suggestion  of  the  questioner.  If  A  is  once  accepted, 
it  is  easy  to  attach  attributes  to  it.  Even  when  the  observer 
does  not  or  can  not  attach  a  color  to  A,  if,  for  instance,  he 
answers,  "  I  do  not  know  its  color,"  he  is  still  a  victim  of 
the  suggestion,  for  he  tacitly  admits  the  existence  of  A  in  the 
form  of  his  reply.  The  hypothetical  question  also  can  be 
divided  into  true  and  false  forms  according  to  its  content. 

(33-     P-  59-) 

The  sequential  question  makes  use  of  an  implication: 
One  who  says  A,  must  also  say  B.  (58.  p.  343.)  For 
instance :  If  a  question,  "  was  not  A  there?  "  (when  in  reality 
it  was  not  there)  is  accepted  by  the  observer,  then  this 
acceptance  means  that  he  will  admit  the  existence  of  the  color, 
size,  etc.,  of  the  A,  as  it  is  natural  to  infer  that  the  A  should 
have  been  colored,  etc.  The  sequential  question  is  used  when 
a  hypothetical  or  the  like  question  is  accepted. 

Thus  we  can  make  a  graded  series  according  to  the  degree 
of  suggestiveness  contained  in  the  form  and  to  some  extent 
the  content  of  the  questions.  However,  the  suggestive  influ- 
ence of  each  form  of  the  above  questions  is  not  in  its  numerical 
percentage  proportional  to  the  scale.  To  answer  a  hypo- 
thetical and  sequential  question,  a  part  or  the  whole  of  an 
object  or  a  thing  must  be  invented,  and  this  invention  needs 
a  great  mental  effort,  or  a  struggle  against  the  present  mental 
state.  This  is  probably  the  reason  why  these  questions  result 
often  in  a  small  percentage  of  errors.  Again  that  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  suggestive  questions  declines  strongly  with 
increasing  age,  while  the  frequency  of  the  erroneous  answers 
to  the  normal  questions  is  fairly  independent  of  age,  shows 
that  the  nearer  a  question  is  to  the  normal,  the  less  suggestive 
it  is. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  observer  passes  through 
various  stages  of  mental  resistance  against  the  suggestive 
influence  of  questions.  According  to  Binet's  observation,  the 
first  instance  which  follows  the  reading  of  the  question  is 
a  moment  of  scepticism.  This  is  shown  by  a  murmur,  "  But 
I  don't  know,"  or  by  the  gestures  of  ennui  or  negation,  or 
mimic  expressions,  etc.  Some  translate  this  state  of  scepticism 
by  the  written  answer,  "  no,"  which  they  finally  efface ;  some 
say  "  no,  it  was  not  so."  This  state  of  an  initial  resistance 
persists  indefinitely  with  some  observers.  (6.  p.  303.)  The 
second  phase  is  that  of  half  yielding  to  the  suggestion.  The 
observer  commences  to  write  his  answer,  but  he  is  arrested  by 
a  decisive  word  or  words.  Finally,  a  third  phase  is  that  of  the 
execution  of  the  suggestion.  Here  the  observer  shows  often, 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  155 

at  the  moment  when  he  writes  his  answer,  a  flushing  of  the 
face,  as  if  he  had  a  sentiment  of  shame.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  sometimes  a  resistance  which  is  first  at  a  maximum 
and  then  terminates  with  a  disbelief  in  suggestion.  (6. 

P-  304.) 

The  same  phenomena  have  been  observed  very  distinctly  by 
the  writer  in  his  own  experiments.  It  is  rather  surprising  to 
find  that  thirty-two  cases  of  117  pupils  in  both  experiments 
erased  their  answers  to  the  "  yes  or  no "  questions  as  well 
as  to  the  expectant  questions  and  corrected  rightly  or  wrongly 
in  the  following  ratio,  that  is,  twenty-two  cases  rightly,  and 
ten  wrongly. 

For  example,  some  pupils  answered,  "  Yes,  it  is  as  irregular 
as  that  of  North  America"  to  the  question  3  (b)  (Is  the 
coast  of  South  America  as  irregular  as  that  of  North 
America?),  but  erased  this  answer  and  wrote  "  No,  it  is  not." 
Others  wrote  first,  "  Yes,  it  means  level  land,"  to  the  question 
21  (b)  (Does  'llanos'  mean  level  land?),  but  corrected  it  to 
11  no,  it  means  highland,"  erasing  the  first  answer.  Besides 
these  thirty-two  cases  of  correction,  there  were  four  special 
cases  where  two  pupils  wrote  "  no  "  as  an  answer,  but  erased 
it,  and  then  wrote  "  no  "  again,  while  the  two  others  did  the 
same  with  "  yes." 

A  comparison  of  the  suggestive  influence  of  each  form 
of  the  questions  by  means  of  the  experimental  results  already 
obtained  follows. 

That  the  "  yes  or  no  "  question  is  more  suggestive  than  the 
determining  question  has  been  shown  experimentally  by 
Binet  (6.  p.  313),  Chomjakov  (14),  Lipmann  (33)  and 
others.  Our  investigation  with  13  pupils  showed  with  the 
normal  questions  (3,  9,  16,  19,  and  24 of  2nd  series,  appendix), 
true  answers  amounted  to  71.9%  ;  false  ones  to  21.9%,  and 
uncertain  ones  to  6.2%>;  with  the  corresponding  true  "yes  or 
no"  questions  with  42  pupils,  90.4%,  9.6%  and  zero  % 
respectively ;  and  with  the  corresponding  false  "  yes  or  no  " 
questions,  54.7%',  41.5%,  and  3.8%  respectively. 

The  results  of  Stern,  Rodenwaldt,  Oppenheim,  and  others 
show  that  the  leading  (expectant)  is  more  suggestive  than  the 
determining  question.  But  in  all  these  cases,  the  leading  as 
well  as  the  normal  questions  were  applied  to  the  different 
objects,  so  that  we  may  not  be  justified  in  depending  upon 
their  results.  The  results  of  Chomjakov  and  Lipmann  can 
justly  be  relied  upon,  for  they  applied  both  kind  of  questions 
to  the  same  objects,  though  as  a  matter  of  course  using  them 
on  the  different  observers.  Chomjakov  (14)  showed  three 
groups  of  each  fifty  students  a  sheet  of  paper  which  was 


156  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

spotted  with  red  and  violet  color.  The  first  group  was  asked : 
"  How  many  red  and  how  many  violet  spots  have  you 
noticed  ?  "  The  second  was  asked :  "  Have  you  not  noticed 
red  spots  between  the  numerous  violet  ones  here  and  there, 
and  how  many  were  there?"  The  third:  "  Have  you  not 
noticed  between  the  numerous  red  spots  here  and  there,  also 
violet  spots,  and  how  many  ?  "  The  results  were :  The  first 
group  answered  on  an  average  with  eleven  red  and  eight 
violet ;  the  second  with  fifteen  violet  and  four  red ;  the  third 
with  four  violet  and  fifteen  red. 

Our  results  agree  to  some  extent  with  Lipmann's  (33. 
PP-  53~4»  68-9).  They  show  clearly  that  the  true  leading 
questions  suggest  the  right  answers  more  strongly  than  the 
false  leading  questions  do  the  false  answers  when  compared 
with  the  non  suggestive  questions  corresponding  to  both. 

We  obtained  in  the  experiments  with  the  normal  questions 
(8.13  and  21  of  2nd  series,  appendix)  with  13  pupils:  true 
answers  =  71.8%,  false  =  20.5%,  and  uncertain  =  7.796  ;  with 
the  corresponding  true  expectant  questions  on  the  42  pupils, 
r  =  94%,  f  =  6%,  and  zero  for  u;  with  the  corresponding 
false  expectant  questions,  66.7%,  20%  and  13.3%  respectively. 

From  all  these  experimental  results,  it  is  seen  that  the 
expectation  aroused  by  means  of  the  phrase,  "  Was  it  not," 
or  words  like  "  numerous,"  "  truly,"  "  perhaps,"  "  honestly," 
etc.,  or  some  special  instruction  or  silent  manipulation — as 
in  the  experiments  of  Lobsien  (38),  Kosog  (29,  30),  Seashore 
(56.  pp.  30-31),  Scott  (55),  Plecher  (47),  and  others,— 
produces  a  high  percentage  of  suggestibility.  And  that  the 
false  leading  questions  do  not  act  more  suggestively  than  the 
false  "  yes-or-no  "  questions,  provided  that  the  former  are 
differentiated  from  the  latter  only  by  the  word  "  not,"  is  deter- 
mined by  both  Lipmann  (33.  p.  70)  and  Rodenwaldt  (50). 
In  our  own  experiments  the  false  "  yes-or-no "  questions 
brought  out  more  false  answers  than  the  false  leading  ones. 
This  is  perhaps  due  to  the  fact,  as  Rodenwaldt  rightly  states, 
that  "  the  intelligent  observers  easily  discover  that  they  will  be 
led  into  a  trap  by  the  word  '  not '  "  and  become  cautious,  while 
they  more  easily  fall  into  a  trap  with  the  false  "  yes-or-no  " 
questions  where  the  word  '  not '  is  omitted. 

For  the  suggestive  influence  of  the  false  hypothetical  and  the 
incomplete  disjunctive  questions  the  readers  are  referred  to 
Lipmann's  exact  work  (33.  pp.  75  ff),  Binet  (6),  Lobsien 
(38),  and  others. 

In  summarising,  it  may  be  said  that  the  suggestiveness  of 
a  question  to  a  great  extent  depends  upon  its  form  and  its 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  157 

content ;  that  a  determining  question  is  the  least  suggestive ; 
that  the  true  leading  as  well  as  the  true  "  yes-or-no  "  questions 
are  more  suggestive  than  the  false  ones,  the  former  evoking 
more  right  answers  and  the  latter  more  false  ones  without 
exception. 

RELATION  BETWEEN  THE  SUGGESTIVENESS  OF  A  QUESTION  AND 
A  QUESTIONER 

It  makes  a  great  difference  whether  a  question  is  presented 
to  a  pupil  by  his  fellow-student  or  by  a  teacher ;  to  a  witness, 
by  a  disinterested  person  or  by  a  judge.  "  The  presence  of 
persons,"  says  McDougall  (40.  pp.  98  ff),  "whom  we  regard 
as  our  inferiors  in  the  particular  situation  of  the  moment 
evokes  the  impulse  of  self-assertion ;  towards  such  persons  we 
are  but  little  or  not  at  all  suggestible.  But,  in  the  presence 
of  persons  who  make  upon  us  an  impression  of  power  or 
of  superiority  of  any  kind,  the  impulse  of  submission  is 
brought  into  play,  and  we  are  thrown  into  a  submissive, 
receptive  attitude  towards  them."  "  The  personality  or 
impressive  character,"  says  Keatinge  (26.  ch.  5),  "  can  set  up 
in  another  a  state  of  emotion  sufficient  to  produce  an  unstable 
and  easily  dissociated  condition  of  mind,  and  thus  to  inhibit 
the  rise  of  the  development  of  contrariant  systems."  Such 
an  authoritative  influence  is  apt  to  modify  the  nature  of  an 
answer. 

Thus  under  the  influence  of  an  authority  or  of  masterfulness 
in  the  questioner,  an  observer  may  come  to  such  a  logical 
conclusion  as  follows :  "  Why,  what  else  can  I  think  of  ?  The 
desired  answer  must  surely  be  right!  The  questioner  should 
know  it;  why,  I  thought  it  was  this,  but  he  asks  about  that, 
am  I  then  mistaken,  or  is  he?  No,  he  should  not  be  so,  then 
I  must  be."  Consequently,  if  a  question  is  a  "  yes-question  " 
or  a  "  no-question,"  he  will  answer  "  yes  "  or  "  no  "  without 
further  reflection.  If  a  question  is  a  "  yes  or  no  "  question,  he 
will  react  to  it  with  "  yes,"  irrespective  of  the  content  of  the 
question,  even  where  according  to  his  knowledge,  the  answer 
should  be  negative.  Some  pupils,  as  we  have  seen,  are 
mechanized  to  answer  "  no  "  to  every  "  yes  or  no  "  question, 
whether  its  content  is  true  or  false,  while  the  majority  are 
habituated  to  "  yes."  If,  however,  a  question  is  an  incomplete 
disjunctive  or  a  false  hypothetical  question,  one  will  decide 
in  favor  of  the  most  probable  answer  (33.  p.  214). 

Next  to  authority,  the  facial  expression  of  a  questioner 
has  a  great  influence  not  only  for  provoking  or  inhibiting  an 


158  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

answer,  but  also  for  determining  its  nature.     The  following 
examples  are  illustrative  (68.    pp.  84-85)  : 

Counsel  (taking  up  the  two  lower  bones  of  the  leg  attached  and 
approaching  the  witness.)  "  Will  you  please  take  these,  doctor,  and 
tell  the  jury  whether  in  life  they  constituted  the  bones  of  a  woman's 
leg  or  a  man's  leg?  " 

Doctor.     "  It  is  difficult  to  tell,  sir." 

Counsel.  "  What,  can't  you  tell  the  skeleton  of  a  woman's  leg 
from  a  man's,  doctor?" 

Doctor.     "  Oh,  yes,  I  should  say  it  was  a  woman's  leg." 

Counsel  (smiling  and  looking  pleased).  "So  in  your  opinion, 
doctor,  this  was  a  woman's  leg?"  (It  was  a  woman's  leg.) 

Doctor  (observing  counsel's  face  and  thinking  he  had  made  a  mis- 
take). "  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,  it  is  a  man's  leg,  of  course.  I  had 
not  examined  it  carefully.' 

Counsel  (still  smiling).  "Would  you  be  good  enough  to  tell  the 
jury  if  it  is  the  right  leg  or  the  left  leg?" 

Doctor   (quietly  and  hesitatingly).     "This  is  the  right  leg." 

Counsel    (astonished).     "What  do  you  say,  doctor?" 

Doctor  (much  confused).    "Pardon  me,  it  is  the  left  leg." 

Here  it  is  clear  that  this  doctor's  answer  was  modified 
wrongly  by  the  counsel's  facial  expression,  which  was  inter- 
preted by  him  as  a  sign  that  his  answer  was  wrong.  So,  too, 
children's  answers  in  the  school-room  are  often  modified  by 
their  teacher's  facial  expression.  We  cite  a  few  examples 
from  the  returns  to  a  questionnaire  used  not  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  questioning  but  for  the  study  of  imitation  and 
suggestion. 

"  The  teacher  in  history  may  ask  you  a  question  and  generally 
one  that  has  to  be  explained.  It  might  take  three  or  four  minutes 
to  answer.  All  the  time  her  face  seems  to  be  a  perfect  blank.  She 
does  not  look  at  the  person  reciting  or  answering  but  directs  her 
gaze  in  another  direction.  Sometimes  I  stop  and  wonder  if  I  am 
saying  the  correct  thing  and  then  finish  the  recitation  or  answer 
in  its  midst.  If  she  would  only  attend  to  our  answers  and  recitation, 
we  would  have  much  more  confidence  in  our  work  and  do  it  better." 

The  slightest  inclination  of  the  head,  the  dropping  of  the 
eyelids,  or  a  certain  expression  of  the  face  are  apt  to  be  read 
by  the  shrewd  pupil  as  a  sign  of  the  truth  or  error  of  his 
answer,  so  that  he  may  continue  or  stop  his  recitation.  (4. 
pp.  76-77.)  It  is  better  not  to  give  any  sign  whatever  while 
a  pupil  is  answering,  except  for  an  encouragement  when  a 
pupil  is  timid  or  hesitates  to  express  himself. 

To  help  a  child  by  such  signs  makes  him  passive,  leads  him 
to  depend  upon  the  teacher  instead  of  relying  upon  his  own 
knowledge.  It  fosters  guessing  or  leads  a  bright  but  unpre- 
pared pupil  to  steer  through  a  recitation  guided  by  the 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  I  59 

unsuspecting  teacher.     This  will  be  more  clearly  understood 
through  the  following  examples : 

"  I  know,"  says  a  Normal  School  girl,  "  some  teachers  who  ask  a 
question  in  such  a  manner  and  tone  that  it  is  easy  to  know  whether 
the  correct  answer  is  '  yes '  or  '  no.'  Then  I  have  known  of  another 
case  where  by  the  teacher's  facial  expressions,  gestures,  etc.,  you 
could  tell,  if  you  had  only  recited  the  first  part  of  the  answer,  that 
it  was  wrong  or  right."  (Twenty-one  cases.) 

Another  girl  says :  "  I  have  always  been  greatly  aided  in  my  reci- 
tations by  carefully  watching  a  teacher's  face.  In  most  instances  I 
can  tell  whether  or  not  I  am  '  on  the  right  track.'  There  is  some- 
thing about  their  facial  expression  (very  slight  indeed)  that  helps 
me  to  '  feel  my  way,'  so  to  speak.  This  means,  of  course,  was  used 
more  during  my  grammar  and  high  school  years." 

As  the  facial  expression,  so  the  tone  of  a  teacher's  voice 
affects  the  answers  of  children.  In  our  school  rooms  we  fre- 
quently notice  that  the  pupils  often  decline  or  fail  to  answer 
the  questions  asked,  and  generally  it  is  inferred  that  they  do 
not  know.  But  such  an  interpretation  is  very  often  incorrect. 
For  instance,  a  girl  of  twelve  says :  "  I  knew  very  well  the 
answer,  but  the  teacher's  tone  of  questioning  suggested  to  me 
that  she  does  not  care  much  about  the  answer.  So  I  felt  that 
my  answer  was  not  important  and  consequently  I  did  not 
answer."  (9  cases.) 

Two  girls  of  the  seventh  grade  say :  "  If  a  teacher  shows  that  it 
is  fun  for  her  to  ask  a  question,  we  become  stubborn  and  simply 
refuse  to  answer." 

Still  another  girl  says :  "  If  her  tone  indicates  that  she  is  cross, 
I  don't  feel  free  to  talk  during  her  lesson  or  to  answer  her  ques- 
tions; it  also  discourages  me  and  makes  me  not  to  enjoy  the  subject. 
As  a  result  I  often  remain  silent  waiting  impatiently  for  the  period 
to  end." 

"  Our  teacher's  voice  was  so  sharp  and  cross  that  whenever  she 
called  my  name,  I  became  very  nervous  and  could  not  answer  her 
questions  even  when  I  knew  them  well."  (Thirty-one  cases.) 

On  the  other  hand,  a  teacher  who  teaches  out  of  the  fulness 
of  her  heart  will  stimulate  more  responses  in  the  children's 
minds  and  hearts. 

Again  when  a  questioner  puts  a  special  emphasis  on  a 
certain  word  or  uses  either  rising  or  falling  inflection  in  her 
questioning,  the  corresponding  answer  may  be  of  little  value. 
An  observer  takes  a  suggestion  from  the  word  that  seemed 
most  emphasized  and  reacts  to  it  with  the  very  word.  Such 
a  reaction  is  most  likely  to  take  place  when  a  "  yes  or  no  " 
question  or  a  "  leading  question "  is  asked  with  a  certain 
inflection  of  tone. 

Closely  related  to  the  above  factors  is  a  questioner's 
expectant  attitude  towards  an  observer.  "  As  well  known," 
says  Krebs,  "  if  everybody,  especially  those  to  whom  we  look 


160  A  STUDY  OP  QUESTIONING 

up  expect  us  to  fail,  it  requires  the  puissance  of  a  psycho- 
logical giant  to  withstand  this  killing  psychic  atmosphere.  .  .  . 
If,  however,  they  expect  us  to  do  our  best,  that  very  co- 
operative expectation  inspires  and  infires  us  to  do  it,  and  we 
succeed."  (31.  pp.  53-54.)  So,  too,  the  expectation  of  a 
teacher  causes  the  weak-minded,  the  discouraged,  the  nervous, 
and  the  like  to  form  the  same  opinion  of  themselves.  Thought 
tends  to  realize  itself  in  actuality ;  they  become  what  they  think. 
This  is  why  some  children  are  made  nervous  or  confused  and 
often  fail  to  answer  a  question  or  to  recite,  when  asked  with 
words  like  these :  "  John,  can  you  answer,  I  don't  think  you 
can,  but  try  it ;  Mary,  I  doubt  if  you  can.  .  .  .  and  so  on/' 

A  seventeen-year-old  girl  reports :  "  In  another  class  I  am  almost 
afraid  to  say  anything,  because  the  teacher  impresses  me  as  having 
the  attitude  that  she  is  sure  I  am  going  to  make  a  mistake,  and  that 
she  is  very  much  surprised  if  my  statement  is  correct.  In  one 
or  two  instances,  I  have  known  this  teacher  to  stop  a  pupil  in  the 
midst  of  a  statement,  saying  that  it  was  wrong;  while  if  she  had 
let  the  pupil  finish  it  would  have  been  correct."  (Five  cases.) 

Another  factor  that  has  an  important  effect  on  the  nature  and 
the  possibility  of  an  answer  is  a  sympathetic  or  nonsympathe- 
tic  attitude.  Sympathy  is  an  indispensable  quality  for  normal 
suggestibility.  As  in  water,  face  answereth  face,  so  in  man, 
the  heart  to  heart.  The  following  examples  are  illustrative: 

"  The  plaintiff,  a  laboring  man,  had  been  thrown  to  the  street  pave- 
ment from  the  platform  of  a  car  .  .  .,  and  had  dislocated  his 
shoulder.  He  had  testified  .  .  .  that  ...  he  had  not  been 
able  to  follow  his  usual  employment  for  the  reason  that  he  could  not 
raise  his  arm  above  a  point  parallel  with  his  shoulder.  Upon  cross- 
examination  the  attorney  for  the  railroad  asked  the  witness  a  few 
sympathetic  questions  about  his  sufferings,  and  upon  getting  on  a 
friendly  basis  with  him  asked  him  'to  be  good  enough  to  show  the 
jury  the  extreme  limit  to  which  he  could  raise  his  arm  since  the 
accident.'  The  plaintiff  slowly  and  with  considerable  difficulty  raised 
his  arm  to  the  parallel  of  his  shoulder.  '  Now,  using  the  same  arm, 
show  the  jury  how  high  you  could  get  it  up  before  the  accident,' 
quietly  continued  the  attorney;  whereupon  the  witness  extended  his 
arm  to  its  full  height  above  his  head,  amid  peals  of  laughter  from 
the  court  and  jury."  (68.  pp.  47-48.) 

Such  a  drama  is  played  by  our  school  children  more  or  less 
in  response  to  a  teacher's  sympathy  towards  them.  The  effect 
of  any  unsympathetic  attitude  appears  in  various  ways  as 
follows : 

A  girl  says:  "One  teacher  I  had  was  never  sympathetic  toward 
me.  She  was  always  finding  fault  with  my  recitation  and  answer 
unless  I  recited  the  lesson  in  her  words.  Thus  I  failed  to  answer 
even  the  easiest  question."  (Eight  cases.) 

Another  girl  says:  "A  fault-finding  attitude  of  our  teacher  amuses 
me  so  much  that  I  look  indifferent  and  hit  less  in  my  answering  in 
order  to  excite  her."  (Three  cases.) 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  l6l 

RELATION    BETWEEN    QUESTIONS    AND    THE    PERSON 
QUESTIONED 

All  experimental  results  show  that  a  suggestive  question 
succeeds  in  one  case,  but  fails  in  another.  It  never  succeeds 
uniformly.  Again  some  persons  are  so  suggestible  that  they 
are  influenced,  even  by  nonsuggestive  questions  (57. 
p.  132)  ;  others  can  resist  even  the  strongest  suggestion 
involved  in  a  question.  The  suggestiveness  of  a  question  thus 
depends  primarily  upon  the  suggestibility  of  the  person  ques- 
tioned, and  this  is  not  constant,  being  dependent  on  many 
internal  as  well  as  external  factors. 

First  of  all,  the  mental  content  of  the  person  questioned 
is  responsible  for  the  suggestiveness  of  a  question.  The 
potential  starting  point  of  an  individual  reaction  is  an  object 
or  a  fact,  ideal  or  perceptual;  and  every  object,  or  idea, 
possesses  for  an  individual  mind  a  stimulative  or  a  suggestive 
influence.  The  individual  conscious  state  at  the  moment  inter- 
prets a  stimulus,  accepting  or  rejecting  it.  Hence,  if  the 
content  of  the  mind  in  question  is  poor,  ill  organized  and 
unsystematized,  the  mind  is  apt  to  be  a  victim  of  an  external 
as  well  as  an  internal  stimulus.  This  is  the  reason  why  many 
experimenters  hold  that  the  less  intelligent  an  observer  is, 
the  more  suggestible  he  is,  and  that  children  are,  in  general, 
more  suggestible  than  adults.  Even  with  people  of  higher 
intelligence,  deficiency  of  knowledge  relating  to  the  given 
topic  heightens  the  suggestibility  of  the  person  questioned. 

In  the  case  of  a  child,  a  similar  suggestibility  occurs  when- 
ever there  is  little  or  no  direct  conflict  with  his  experience. 
A  child  believes  in  any  commanding  idea,  in  a  pleasurable  or 
wished-for  thing  as  well  as  a  dreadful  or  not-wished-for 
thing.  This  subjectively  conditioned  belief,  auto-suggestion 
or  credulity  supposes  always  a  grade  of  dissociation,  from 
which  no  child  can  be  absolutely  free.  If  this  dissociation 
increases,  the  object  of  each  agreeable  idea  can  be  finally 
believed  and  appears  as  real.  (37.  p.  246.)  Belief  is  an 
original  and  a  natural  process  in  the  mind  of  a  child.  He 
does  not  doubt  any  thing  that  he  learns  until  he  has  accum- 
mulated  a  considerable  amount  of  knowledge,  and  attained 
a  relatively  high  stage  in  the  development  of  intelligence. 
Moreover  "  to  doubt  is  usually  unpleasant  and  may  arouse 
complicated  strain  sensations  to  add  a  new  element  to  the 
unpleasantness"  (46.  p.  34). 

Consequently,  even  when  a  child's  knowledge  is  compara- 
tively accurate,  when  he  is  under  the  sway  of  an  authoritative 
impression  or  his  own  auto-suggestion,  he  may  answer  as 
suggested,  thinking  that  perhaps  that  is  called  '  A/  which 


162  A  STUDY  OP  QUESTIONING 

used  to  be  called  '  B/  Such  a  reaction  may  not  take  place  so 
easily  if  a  question  is  asked  by  a  fellow-student  or  an  inferior 
person,  but  it  is  apt  to  happen  under  the  influence  of  authority. 
When  a  person  is  influenced  by  a  suggestion  he  loses  his 
critical  or  analytical  power  towards  the  form  and  content  of  a 
question  and  simply  attends  to  or  searches  in  his  memory  for 
corresponding  ideas,  and  finally  produces  his  answer  as  if  it 
was  a  spontaneous  report.  Whenever  credulity  and  authority 
go  together,  the  result  is  doubtful.  Lack  of  will,  too  great 
credulity,  and  too  little  self-criticism  are  great  obstacles  to 
independent,  self-assertive  reaction  (62.  p.  272). 

Another  group  of  persons  yield  to  a  suggestion  even  against 
their  own  knowledge,  because  of  their  affection  or  because 
ambition  is  aroused  towards  a  questioner.  An  observer 
really  knows  that  to  answer  '  A  '  or  not  to  answer  at  all  is  con- 
tradictory to  his  own  knowledge,  but  he  does  not  venture  to 
resist  the  question  asked ;  for  he  does  not  like  to  make  himself 
disliked,  or  he  fears  punishment  or  some  kind  of  annoyance. 
(33.  p.  216.)  Thus  under  certain  circumstances,  some 
observers  conclude  not  to  contradict  directly,  but  also  not  to 
come  in  conflict  with  their  own  knowledge,  and  hence  take 
an  attitude  of  a  compromise.  (33.  p.  231.)  These  affective 
reactions  perhaps  decrease  with  growing  mental  development 
and  education.  If  this  affection  becomes  stronger  the  sug- 
gestibility of  an  observer  in  general  increases.  "  Whatever 
weakens  the  reason,"  says  Cooley,  "  and  thus  destroys  the 
breadth  and  symmetry  of  consciousness,  produces  some  form 
of  suggestibility.  .  .  ."  (18.  p.  40.)  So,  too,  Bleuler  says 
that  the  suggestibility  grows  proportionately  with  the  strength 
of  an  existent  affection  (7.  p.  54),  so  that  we  find  memory 
illusions  even  in  the  normal  individual  as  soon  as  affection 
comes  into  play  (7.  p.  69).  He  continues:  "Both  sug- 
gestibility and  affection  render  criticism  difficult  or  check  it 
even  completely."  (7.  p.  69.)  If  an  observer  comes  under 
such  an  influence,  he  becomes  the  unresisting  instrument  of  a 
questioner.  (58.  p.  333.)  He  gives  an  answer  to  a  question, 
but  does  not  examine  whether  it  is  right  or  not ;  he  simply 
contents  himself  with  a  vague  feeling  that  it  may  be  correct ; 
he  estimates  the  authority  of  the  examiner  higher  than  that  of 
his  memory. 

Similarly  the  ambition  of  an  observer  changes  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  an  answer  to  some  extent.  Franken  (22.  pp. 
214  ff),  Kosog  (29.  pp.  71-72)  and  others  have  shown  that 
the  ambition  of  an  observer  increases  with  the  range  of  his 
knowledge,  increasing  the  extent  of  an  answer  but  reducing 
its  qualitative  value.  The  reason  seems  to  be  that  with 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  163 

ambition  the  power  of  caution  or  criticism  is  checked  and  the 
childish  imagination  is  intensified  (29.  pp.  71-72). 

Closely  connected  with  this  group  of  reactions  is  a  type  of 
reaction  traceable  to  the  so-called  counter  or  contrary  sug- 
gestibility. This  is  a  tendency  to  react,  immediately,  uncritic- 
ally or  critically,  but  always  negatively,  to  the  suggestion 
made.  (39.  pp.  372-374.)  If  such  observers  notice  that 
a  definite  answer  is  suggested  by  a  question,  then  they  form 
the  opinion  that  this  answer  will  probably  be  false. 

There  is  an  acute  type  of  this  contrary-suggestibility  which 
may  be  termed  an  inborn  contrary-suggestibility.  Here  the 
mode  of  reaction  approaches  almost  the  negativism  described 
by  Kraepelin  as  "  the  instinctive  resistance  against  every  outer 
influence  upon  the  will"  (8.  p.  10).  As  soon  as  such  an 
one  gets  suggestion,  he  feels  antagonistic ;  no  idea  suggested 
gives  him  any  satisfaction  and  so  he  chooses  something  else, 
and  the  "  something  else  "  is  apt  to  be  the  opposite,  since 
"  each  idea  suggests,  as  it  were,  a  contrary  idea  as  its  natural 
complement"  (8.  p.  32). 

However  this  tendency  in  children  is  not  rebellion  or  con- 
scious assertion  of  the  self  against  an  opposing  will.  "  It 
represents  rather  that  stage  in  the  normal  process  of  self- 
development  in  which  the  crude  materials  of  rational  action 
have  been  given,  but  in  which  successful  co-ordination  has  not 
yet  become  possible"  (39.  p.  379).  "But  to  have  become 
the  characteristic  form  of  reaction  in  an  adult  is  an  indication 
of  arrested  development,  since  in  proportion  as  this  type  of 
action  predominates,  the  mind  becomes  blinded  to  the  very 
basis  of  rational  conduct.  It  must  be  utilized to  estab- 
lish that  habit  of  reflecting  upon  reasons  for  and  against  any 
suggested  course  of  conduct"  (39.  p.  380). 

Besides  those  above  mentioned,  there  are  still  at  least  two 
types  of  reaction  due  to  exercise  or  repetition.  A  question 
draws  the  attention  of  the  observer  to  a  given  problem  and 
gives  rise  to  an  idea  of  purpose  (Aufgabe)  to  solve  it.  This 
idea  of  purpose  conditions  a  certain  mental  state  which  may 
be  called  "  Attitude  or  a  definite  reaction  mood  "  (Einstel- 
lung)^  (33.  p.  77).  This  attitude  or  mood,  after  several 
repetitions  of  reactions  to  the  same  stimulus  in  a  definite  way, 
is  apt  to  develop  into  the  purely  mechanical  or  expectant  mode 
of  reaction. 

The  purely  mechanical  reaction  or  habit  is  found  to  play 
a  great  role  in  the  well  known  abnormal  or  supernormal 
suggestibility  of  soldiers  (50.  p.  315),  policemen,  children 
and  others,  under  strict  discipline.  Here  the  suggestibility 
is  undoubtedly  fostered  by  exercise.  So,  too,  some  observers 


164  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

are  found  very  often  to  acquire  the  habit  of  either  a  motor 
or  vocal  reaction,  to  a  similar  stimulus.  If  children  are 
habituated  to  react  with  an  answer  "  yes  "  to  a  "  yes  or  no  " 
question,  they  will  be  mechanized  to  this  mood  of  reaction, 
and  will  answer  without  reflection  but  merely  automatically, 
even  when  the  content  of  a  question  is  entirely  changed  from 
true  to  false. 

To  discover  how  an  expectant  attitude  affects  even  normal 
questions,  Lipmann  (33.  pp.  78-81)  made  another  experiment 
which  showed  that  the  increase  of  error  is  greater  in  an 
experiment  with  a  leading  question  as  the  first  of  a  list  of 
questions  than  in  a  series  without  such  a  question,  which 
produces  an  expectant  attitude  towards  the  rest.  Again  an 
expectant  attitude  may  affect  suggestive  questions  in  a  peculiar 
way.  For  instance,  after  an  observer  has  answered  a  number 
of  normal  questions  in  succession,  he  is  apt  to  fall  into  the 
trap  of  a  suitably  formulated  suggestive  question,  or  questions 
where  their  suggestive  character  is  not  apparent  (33.  p.  77).  In 
all  these  experiments  it  is  hard  to  say  how  much  of  the  results 
is  to  be  ascribed  to  suggestive  questions,  and  how  much  to  an 
expectant  attitude,  but  we  may  safely  say  that  the  expectant 
attitude  has  played  an  important  role,  since  its  function  is  to 
dull  the  critical  power,  which  Rodenwaldt  (50.  p.  316)  found 
stands  in  inverse  ratio  to  suggestibility.  There  are  cases, 
however,  as  in  Seashore's  experiments,  where  even  the 
greatest  caution  will  not  ensure  protection  against  skillful 
suggestion  (56.  p.  43). 

Children's  suggestibility  may  be  due  also  to  their  lack  of 
attention,  defective  observation,  lack  of  language,  etc.,  or  all 
these  factors  combined.  It  is  thus  difficult  to  say  that  a 
particular  result  is  caused  by  a  definite  influence.  It  is  a 
teacher's  function  to  investigate  the  suggestibility  of  each 
pupil  and  to  make  practical  use  of  such  knowledge. 

QUESTIONS  FROM  THE  PEDAGOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW 

Questions,  as  employed  by  teachers,  may  be  divided  accord- 
ing to  their  purpose. 

1.  The  preliminary  or  experimental  question  aims  to  find 
out  what  the  pupil  knows.    The  teacher,  by  means  of  this  class 
of  questions,  is  able  to  arouse  a  pupil's  curiosity  and  intellec- 
tual activity  (21.    pp.  76,  81). 

2.  The  questions  employed  in  actual  instruction,  by  means 
of  which  the  reasoning  power  of  a  learner  is  exercised  are 
analytical  or  developmental.     The  purpose  of  the  analytical 
question  is  to  analyze  knowledge  into  its  elements  in  order  to 
bring  its  implications  to  consciousness   (19.     pp.  180),  while 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  165 

the  developmental  question  is  to  aid  the  pupil  in  arriving  at  a 
clear  comprehension  of  classes,  rules,  principles,  etc.  It  is 
especially  applicable  in  the  inductive  approach  to  general 
truths,  but  equally  serviceable  in  making  verification  of 
principles  assumed  (19.  p.  181).  These  two  types  of  question 
are  generally  employed  in  scientific  studies  or  those  which 
exercise  reasoning  power.  Their  aim  is  both  to  impart  knowl- 
edge and  to  train  purposive  thinking. 

3.  The  questions,  through  which  a  teacher  tests  her  own 
work  after  a  lesson  has  been  given  and  ascertains  whether 
it  has  been  thoroughly  understood,  may  be  called  disciplinary 
or  '  examination  questions.' 

4.  Very  closely  connected  with  questions  for  examination 
are  those  for  review.     Here  the  aim  is  to  impress  the  facts 
taught  upon  children's  minds. 

5.  Another  type  of  question  aims  exclusively  at  drill,  the 
establishment  of  a  sort  of  mechanical  association,  as  employed, 
for  instance,   in  language   studies.     Here  the  attainment  of 
a  prompt  reply  is  the  sole  aim.    This  type  of  question  is  unfor- 
tunately abused  in  our  school  recitations  and  often  applied  to 
subject-matter  for  which  it  is  unsuited. 

The  most  fundamental  function  of  questions  in  most  cases 
is  didactic,  that  is,  to  stimulate  thought  in  the  direction  of 
the  solution  of  a  problem,  instead  of  mere  verbal  memory 
exercise,  drill  or  habit-formation.  It  is  to  lead  pupils  to  recall 
objects  previously  known,  to  bring  to  consciousness  former 
experiences  to  give  a  new  meaning.  But  unfortunately  the 
belief  in  a  "  faculty  of  memory  "  has  led  popular  educationists 
to  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  the  value  of  questions  for  verbal 
memory  training.  Certainly  memory  is  a  basal  factor  for  all 
sorts  of  learning,  as  Miss  Calkins  says,  "  not  only  creative 
imagination  but  all  forms  of  thought  are  based  on  memory." 
We  are,  however,  skeptical  of  that  sort  of  teaching  which 
merely  aims  to  equip  children  with  a  mass  of  fragmentary 
dissociated  knowledge  in  order  that  they  may  later  in  life  find 
a  use  for  it.  The  teaching  of  children's  memories  must  be 
based  on  rational  understanding  so  that  they  may  be  able  to 
control  or  direct  their  ideas  toward  some  end,  toward  the 
solution  of  some  problem. 

According  to  Stevens'  investigation  (65.  p.  47),  an  average 
number  of  questions  during  a  History  lesson  of  one  period  is 
ninety-three,  for  English,  eighty-five;  of  the  former  76.6%, 
and  of  the  latter  49%,  are  based  directly  upon  the  repetition 
of  the  text-book.  For  example:  When  was  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  fought?  When  was  Scott  born?  What  kings  of 
England  led  crusades?  Now  what  do  such  questions  suggest 


l66  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

to  children?  Will  they  not  become  merely  an  incentive  to 
memorize  by  rote  the  words  of  the  book,  rather  than  to  work 
out  the  problem  and  get  ideas  of  their  own?  They  do  not 
stimulate  reflection  as  do  such  questions  as,  for  instance: 
Why  do  you  like  the  Lady  of  the  Lake  better  than  Marmion? 
Why  is  it  that  Minneapolis  could  develop  so  quickly  ?  Compare 
the  quality  of  A  with  that  of  B.  By  pure  memory  questions 
pupils  become  apparently  but  not  really  self-active.  Thus 
Scherer  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  apparently  greatest 
perfection  in  the  art  of  questioning  has  as  its  result  the 
greatest  dependency  of  the  pupils  (54.  p.  27). 

Over  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  more  than  300  returns  to 
our  questionnaire  as  to  what  school  subjects  were  liked  or  dis- 
liked state  that  the  writers  liked  English  literature  and  History 
best,  if  the  teachers  did  not  bother  them  by  silly  questions  on 
trifling  facts  and  waste  time  without  going  into  any  interpre- 
tation or  evaluation  of  the  literature  itself.  This  is  clearly 
brought  out  in  the  following  excerpt : 

"  I  have  had  experiences  in  English  literature  where  we  were  driven 
to  stand  and  tell  from  memory  the  names  of  authors,  when  they 
were  born,  where  they  were  born,  how  long  they  lived,  what  books 
they  wrote,  when  they  died,  where  they  died,  where  they  were  buried, 
and  so  on  along  the  same  line.  I  myself  at  least  was  bored  to  death. 
I  wonder  what  such  study  of  literature  can  amount  to?  Absolutely 
nothing  to  me,  yes  worse  than  nothing,  as  I  changed  my  purpose." 

The  burden  that  such  a  study  inflicts  upon  pupils  creates  a 
hatred  of  literature  often  never  overcome.  The  problem 
naturally  arises,  what  questions  then  shall  be  used?  The 
answer  is:  analytical  and  developmental  questions,  whether 
the  method  used  be  Socratic,  inductive  or  deductive,  topical 
or  dialectic. 

Dr.  Dewey  says  that  "  a  demand  for  the  solution  of  a  per- 
plexity is  the  steadying  and  guiding  factor  in  the  entire  process 
of  reflection"  (20.  p.  n).  It  becomes  thus  a  function  of 
questions  to  present  this  demand  for  the  solution  of  a  definite 
problem  as  a  first  step.  A  general  appeal,  however,  to  a  child 
to  think,  irrespective  of  his  own  experience  or  knowledge  is 
futile.  Experience  is  the  anchor  of  both  wisdom  and  sanity 
(13.  p.  64).  Given  a  problem,  the  next  step  is  to  stimulate 
thought  by  a  series  of  interrogations  leading  each  pupil  to 
correct  reasoning.  This  method  may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be 
called  Socratic,  but  not  in  the  sense  which  Socrates  himself 
used  it.  Care  should  be  taken  in  the  use  of  the  so-called 
Socratic  method ;  for  it  is  primarily  intended  for  adults  who 
have  much  experience,  and  moreover  it  is,  in  its  nature, 
altogether  too  destructive.  It  discourages  the  child  by  break- 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  167 

ing  down  his  misconceptions,  by  revealing  his  ignorance  or  his 
absurdity,  while  it  offers  him  little  or  nothing  of  constructive 
material.  Consequently  it  is  likely  to  force  the  mind  to  think 
along  a  negative  rather  than  a  positive  line  or  to  lead  to 
indifference.  We  may,  however,  make  use  of  it  by  rendering 
it  simpler  and  more  constructive  (28.  p.  376).  The 
teacher  stimulates  and  directs,  but  never  suggests  a  conclusion 
or  an  answer.  Pupils  are  encouraged  to  present  their  own 
thoughts.  If  correct,  the  teacher  deepens  and  widens  their 
views  by  suggestive  illustrations.  If  incorrect,  their  absurdity 
is  shown  by  leading  them  to  discover  legitimate  consequences. 
Thus  the  leartier  at  every  step  feels  the  joy  of  discovery  and 
victory  instead  of  discouragement.  In  all  this  the  teacher  is 
only  the  stimulator  of  the  pupil's  thinking.  The  secret  is: 
"  never  suggest,  anything  which  you  can  lead  a  pupil  to  find 
out  and  tell  you."  Given  a  problem,  suggestions  in  the  mind 
of  the  child  follow  the  laws  of  association.  The  greater  the 
fluidity  of  ideas,  and  the  greater  the  number  of  the  suggestions 
that  arise,  the  more  likely  is  the  fcrue  solution  to  be  obtained ; 
but  all  these  may  fail ;  then  only  may  a  questioner  suggest  the 
conclusion. 

If  any  suggestion  of  an  answer  is  given  from  without  and 
accepted  at  once,  there  will  be  no  critical  thinking,  simply 
a  minimum  of  reflection.  If  this  kind  of  interrogation  con- 
tinues for  months  and  years,  the  child  will  become  a  puppet 
and  passive  in  his  thinking,  instead  of  active,  self-assertive, 
and  independent  of  external  suggestion. 

Another  pernicious  practice  is  that  of  helping  or  directing 
pupils  too  much  in  their  recitations  by  questions  or  otherwise. 
They  are  never  left  alone  to  direct  their  own  steps,  and  are 
never  afforded  any  opportunity  of  self-direction  to  develop 
sufficiently  the  power  of  initiative.  Should  it  then  be  a  matter 
of  surprise  that  when  left  to  themselves  to  think  and  to  decide 
or  solve  a  problem,  they  dawdle  and  get  nowhere? 

Another  method  of  developing  the  power  of  purposive 
thinking  in  a  pupil  is  by  means  of  dialectic  or  discussion.  In 
this  method,  the  pupils  present  their  arguments  briefly  and 
pointedly  in  favor  of  their  respective  positions.  All  criticisms 
are  answered  and  contested.  The  reasons  for  and  against  are 
carefully  weighed.  In  these  mental  conflicts,  the  utmost  power 
of  the  pupil  is  called  forth.  It  not  only  cultivates  mental 
power,  but  also  self-assertion,  independence,  courtesy  and 
liberality  toward  an  opponent,  and  the  virtue  of  fair  play.  It 
supplements  the  so-called  Socratic  method,  by  making  the 
pupils  think.  Of  course  this  method  is  not  applicable  to  young 
pupils,  but  to  a  certain  extent  and  in  somewhat  modified  form 


l68  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

it  can  surely  be  utilized  for  pupils  of  the  later  grades  and 
the  high  schools. 

Here  it  may  be  instructive  to  cite  an  experiment  by  C.  H. 
King  (27.  pp.  158-9)  on  the  reasoning  powers  of  children. 
He  gave  the  following  two  questions  to  children  of  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age.  "  The  first  question  runs : 
There  are  several  clever  boys  in  this  class  and  they  are  all 
careless,  so  a  clever  boy  must  be  careless.  Do  you  agree  with 
this?  The  second  question  is:  French  people  are  excitable, 
so  are  Italians;  so  all  foreigners  are  excitable.  Is  this  true? 
The  first  question  was  solved  correctly  by  144  (44.4%)  of  all 
the  children  who  answered,  and  the  second  by  172  (56.8%). 
He  concludes  that  a  considerable  portion  of  those  who  have 
received  a  good  education  and.  have  reached  the  age  of  fifteen 
years  fail  to  show  anything  but  the  germs  of  logical  thinking  " 

Why  is  this?  Why  should  pupils  fail  in  such  simple 
reasoning?  Are  these  problems  beyond  their  powers?  Cer- 
tainly not. 

The  habit  of  reflecting  upon  the  reasons  for  and  against  any 
problem  should  be  promoted  by  a  kind  of  dialectic  method. 
By  a  series  of  suitable  questions  the  pupils  are  led  not  only 
to  pause  before  they  react,  but  also  to  review  or  analyze  the 
complex  system  of  factors  involved  in  the  case,  so  that  their 
reaction  is  made  deliberate  and  rational;  otherwise  they 
become  mere  empirical  thinkers,  of  whom,  James  says: 
"  Whereas  the  merely  empirical  thinker  stares  at  a  fact  in  its 
entirety  and  remains  helpless  or  gets  '  stuck '  if  it  suggests  no 
concomitant  or  similar,  the  (analytic)  reasoner  breaks  it  up 
and  notices  some  one  of  its  separate  attributes.  This 'attribute 
has  properties  or  consequences  which  the  fact  until  then  was 
not  known  to  have,  but  which,  now  that  it  is  noticed  to  contain 
the  attribute,  it  must  have."  MacDougall  says :  "  The  ideal 
type  of  human  action,  which  all  conscious  education  seeks  to 
develop,  is  that  in  which  each  novel  situation  is  critically 
reviewed  as  it  arises  before  it  is  responded  to  by  an  adaptive 
reaction  (instinctive  reaction)  "  (39.  p.  381). 

Questions  may  also  be  utilized  to  disclose  the  intellectual  or 
emotional  bias  of  an  individual  so  that  reactions  or  answers  may 
be  given  without  prejudice  (34.  p.  28).  According  to  Freud, 
"  our  mental  processes  are  more  rigorously  determined  than  is 
commonly  believed,  and  many  of  them  generally  thought  to  be 
causeless  have  in  fact  a  very  precise  and  definable  cause.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  many  mental  processes  where  we 
believe  that  we  have  a  perfectly  free  choice.  Most  important, 
however,  is  the  extension  of  these  principles  to  the  sphere  of 
human  judgment,  for  it  is  probable  that  repressed  complexes 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  169 

play  as  prominent  a  part  in  distortion  of  our  ideas.  On  a 
large  scale  this  is  shown  in  two  ways,  in  the  minimum  of 
evidence  often  necessary  to  secure  the  acceptance  of  an  idea 
that  is  in  harmony  with  existing  mental  constellations,  or  to 
reject  one  that  is  incompatible  with  these.  In  both  cases  it  is 
often  the  affective  influence  rather  than  the  intellectual  opera- 
tions that  decides  the  question.  The  same  evidence  is  con- 
strued quite  differently  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  one 
affective  constellation  than  when  viewed  in  the'  light  of 
another"  (25.  pp.  478,  524). 

Wrong  ideas  and  inappropriate  propositions  enter  conscious- 
ness through  many  doors  and  should  be  corrected  by  the 
influence  of  opposite  ideas  which  a  faithful  memory  and  a 
sound  reasoning  provide  (43).  But  if  pupils  are  not  trained 
to  look  into  things,  to  reflect  for  and  against  a  given  problem, 
and  to  judge  it  fairly,  they  will  be  at  the  mercy  of  their 
instinctive  reactions  and  feelings. 

THE  QUALITIES  OF  GOOD  QUESTIONS 

It  is  of  prime  importance  for  a  teacher  to  provide  a  certain 
.mental  background  necessary  for  the  lesson  and  harmonize  it 
with  her  own  so  that  both  pupil  and  teacher  may  have  a 
closely  similar  apperception,  though  not  composed  of  the  same 
elements  (2.  p.  95).  Otherwise  a  problem  under  considera- 
tion may  be  looked  at  from  wholly  different  points  of  view  and 
there  may  be  a  mutual  failure  in  understanding.  This  is  the 
reason  why  the  teacher  so  often  fails  to  get  correct  answers 
from  her  pupils.  For  instance :  "  Where  was  St.  Paul  con- 
verted?" asks  the  teacher,  speaking  from  a  geographical  point 
of  view ;  but  the  pupil  responds,  "  In  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
Acts,"  from  a  background  of  textual  reference  (2.  pp.  95- 
96).  Hence  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  teacher's  own  mental 
background  into  harmony  with  that  of  her  pupils  in  order 
that  the  questions  may  be  comprehended  and  answered 
correctly. 

Moreover  a  question  should  be  clear,  concise  and  logical. 
The  first  requisite  is  its  clear  comprehension.  If  the  question 
lacks  clearness  or  is  ambiguous,  it  occasions  hesitancy  and 
confusion,  so  that  some  children  may  decline  to  answer,  even 
when  they  know  the  answer  well.  "  An  Ohio  school  teacher 
asked  of  her  class  one  day  a  question,  but  did  not  draw  the 
prompt  response  she  expected.  With  some  surprise  she 
turned  to  one  of  the  boys,  saying,  '  You  know  what  I  want 
you  to  say,  Johnnie ;  whv  don't  you  say  it  ?  '  Johnnie  replied, 
'  I  know  what  you  want  all  right,  but  you  ain't  asked  the 
question  what  fetches  it."  Here  the  youth,  wiser  than  the 


17°  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

teacher,  refused  to  yield  up  his  store  of  information  to  an 
ambiguous  question  (65.  p.  4). 

Questions  should  neither  be  too  universal  nor  too  general. 
For  instance:  "Where  is  Chicago?"  may  bring  out  the 
answers — '  In  Illinois,'  '  on  Lake  Michigan/  '  in  the  United 
States,'  etc.  All  these  answers  have  equal  value  for  such  a 
question. 

All  these  vague  questions  admit  of  several  equally  good 
answers,  according  to  the  different  points  of  view  from  which 
different  minds  regard  them;  but  many  teachers  think  that 
what  is  clear  to  them  ought  to  be  equally  clear  to  others,  so 
that  when  an  answer  is  given  contrary  to  their  expectation, 
it  is  rejected,  even  though  a  perfectly  legitimate  one;  while, 
if  any  pupil  is  fortunate  enough  to  give  the  precise  answer 
in  the  teachers'  mind,  he  is  commended  and  rewarded,  even 
though  he  has  given  no  more  thought  to  the  subject  (21.  p. 
91).  The  really  thoughtful  and  cautious  child  is  merely 
bewildered  by  such  questions.  He  remains  silent  and  will  be 
disgusted  when  an  answer  is  given  by  his  less  worthy  com- 
rades. The  second  type  is  the  pupil  who  is  not  very  clever  but 
shrewd  as  to  the  personal  peculiarities  of  his  teacher,  watches 
her  facial  expressions,  tone  of  voice,  method  and  mode  of 
questioning,  etc.,  and  discovers  easily  what  she  expects.  The 
third  type  of  learner  takes  a  chance  by  answering  at  random 
without  thinking  it  over.  He  is  thus  led  to  form  a  habit  of 
guessing  and  insincerity. 

Great  simplicity  of  language  is  another  condition.  It  is 
better  to  use  as  few  words  as  possible,  since  the  function  of  a 
question  is  not  only  to  cause  children  to  say  as  much  as 
possible,  but  to  avoid  confusion,  and  a  loose,  pointless  answer 
which  is  apt  to  result  from  a  wordy  question. 

The  questions  should  be  adapted  to  the  mind  and  experi- 
ences of  the  child.  An  intelligent  teacher  usually  knows  in 
advance  which  pupils  can  answer  her  questions,  and  this 
makes  possible  adaptation  of  the  questions  to  the  pupils.  But, 
unfortunately,  it  too  often  happens  that  a  teacher  tries 
obstinately  to  elicit  from  the  pupil's  mind  what  is  not  in  it. 
Whenever  the  question  fails  to  fit  the  mind  of  the  learner, 
it  presents  difficulty  after  difficulty,  and  causes  embarrassment 
and  confusion,  which  will  cause  some  pupils  to  give  up  all 
attempts  to  reply  and  lead  others  to  imitate  their  comrades  or 
to  reply  at  haphazard. 

One  girl  says :  "  When  I  was  in  the  eighth  grade,  our  teacher 
used  to  ask  such  bewildering  questions  that  most  of  the  class  could 
not  understand,  but  she  insisted  upon  our  thinking  until  we  hit  upon 
what  she  had  in  her  mind.  If  we  did  not  at  once  hit  upon  her  thought, 
her  eyes  became  large  and  black,  her  voice  harsh  and  her  manner 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  i;i 

made  us  feel  as  though  we  were  the  most  unintelligent  beings  pos- 
sible and  as  a  consequence  we  became  nervous,  and  gave  up  any 
attempt  to  solve  or  answer  the  questions."  Examples  of  such  be- 
wildering questions  can  be  found  in  many  educational  writings,  and 
we  cite  a  few  of  them  here.  Betts  says :  One  teacher  asked,  "  Which 
phenomena  of  the  fratricidal  strife  in  the  American  Republic  were 
most  determinative  of  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  nation?"  While  in 
an  elementary  history  class,  another  teacher  propounded  this  ques- 
tion :  "  What  American  institutions  have  been  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  social  democracy?"  (4.  pp.  66-67.)  Now  in  all  these  ques- 
tions not  only  the  terminology,  but  the  thoughts  also  are  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  the  children.  Such  questions  are  not  only  useless, 
but  confuse  and  discourage  the  children,  and  cause  them  to  lose 
interest  in  study.  How  difficult  it  is  to  adapt  questions  to  children 
is  clearly  seen  from  the  following  examples  given  as  a  model  by  a 
college  professor  in  one  of  the  largest  American  universities :  "  How 
long  do  you  think  it  would  take  a  man  to  walk  to  the  top  of  a 
mountain?  What  would  be  the  difficulties  in  getting  to  the  top? 
If  you  stood  on  the  top  and  threw  a  stone,  how  far  down  the  moun- 
tain do  you  think  it  would  go  ?  "  To  the  writer  who  was  brought 
up  among  the  mountains,  such  questions  sound  nonsensical. 

Undoubtedly  with  many  pupils  under  the  conditions  created 
by  a  series  of  ill-adapted  questions,  the  brain  becomes  inhibi- 
tive  or  a  storm  center  of  opposing  nervous  impulses  and  the 
mind  loses  all  docility.  The  following  investigation  may  throw 
some  light  upon  this  point.  In  1909,  Miss  Helen  Todd  (67. 
pp.  73-74)  took  500  children  from  twenty  different  factories 
and  asked  them  the  question :  "  If  your  father  had  a  good  job 
and  you  didn't  have  to  work,  which  would  you  rather  do — 
go  to  school  or  work  in  a  factory?  "  Four  hundred  and  twelve 
said  they  would  rather  work  in  a  factory  and  gave  among 
others  the  following  reasons :  "  Because  it  is  easier  to  work 
in  a  factory  than  it  is  to  learn  in  school ;  "  "  You  never  under- 
stands what  they  tells  you  in  school,  and  you  can  learn  right 
off  to  do  things  in  a  factory ;  "  ;<  They  ain't  always  picking  on 
you  because  you  don't  know  things  in  a  factory ; "  "  It's  so 
hard  to  learn ; "  "I  couldn't  learn ; "  "  When  you  works  a 
whole  month  at  school,  the  teacher  she  gives  you  a  card  to 
take  home,  that  says  how  you  ain't  any  good." 

These  cases  might  be  diminished  by  well-adapted  question- 
ing which  will  give  a  child  success  and  hence  pleasure  and  an 
incentive  for  further  attempts.  Every  teacher  has  noticed  with 
what  enthusiasm  and  vigor  children  take  up  different  tasks  in 
their  school  lessons  after  they  have  been  successful  in  the  solu- 
tion of  some  problem.  "  Not  all  the  coaxing,  or  scolding,  or 
moralizing  in  the  world  would  fit  them  half  so  well  to  take 
up  the  new  work,  as  the  victory  already  won  "  (12.  p.  112). 
Belief  in  power  begets  power,  in  weakness,  begets  weakness. 
Upon  self-confidence  depends  the  mental  development  of  the 
child  (47.  p.  267).  Hence  it  is  important  for  mental  hygiene 


I72  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

to  give  children  a  chance  for  success,  and  to  arouse  self- 
confidence  in  their  ability;  and  this  is  the  very  task  of  ques- 
tioning. It  goes  without  saying  that  it  is  also  important  to 
allow  a  slight  failure  once  in  a  while  as  a  specific  medicine. 
Meumann  illustrates  the  importance  of  the  self-confidence 
of  a  child  in  his  own  power  from  the  experience  of  a  boy 
whom  he  knew. 

When  a  thirteen-year-old  boy  entered  a  new  school,  his  previous 
teacher  who  had  an  antipathy  to  him,  introduced  him  to  the  new 
teacher  in  a  tactless  manner  with  false  report  From  that  moment 
the  boy,  who  so  far  had  done  work  above  the  average,  could  do 
nothing  more,  his  intellectual  efforts  diminished  from  day  to  day, 
behavior  deteriorated,  and  he  became  shy  and  depressed.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  he  failed  to  be  promoted,  and  would  have  gone  to 
pieces,  had  not  his  parents  taken  him  away.  In  the  new  school  he 
met  a  teacher  who  showed  confidence  in  him,  and  from  that  moment 
he  changed  completely,  and  left  the  school  as  one  of  the  best  pupils. 
Meumann  gives  this  case  as  typical  in  that  a  single  definite  volitional 
inhibition  entering  into  the  life  of  the  child,  extended  to  his  whole 
inner  nature,  discouraged  his  self-confidence,  depressed  his  affective 
life,  and  decreased  all  his  performances  intellectual  as  well  as  moral 
(42.  p.  298). 

The  effectiveness  of  such  a  volitional  inhibition  is  most 
easily  observed  in  the  psychological  laboratory-tests  on 
immediate  retention  (42.  pp.  298-300).  We  cite  also  one  of 
our  questionnaire  returns. 

A  girl  writes :  "  Behind  the  teacher's  tones  and  expressions  I  have 
usually  been  able  to  read  her  attitude  to  the  class  and  towards 
myself.  When  I  know  that  a  teacher  has  entire  confidence  in  me 
and  expects  a  certain  response  on  my  part,  the  most  difficult  subject 
becomes  easy  to  me.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  glance  tells  me  that 
my  ability  to  answer  is  questioned,  no  matter  how  carefully  the  lesson 
has  been  prepared,  my  power  over  the  subject  seems  to  depart,  and 
I  fail  in  general." 

Children  are  very  susceptible  to  such  volitional  inhibitions ; 
and  such  an  inhibition  is  too  frequently  caused  by  ill-adapted 
questions  which  simply  bring  about  failure  after  failure,  or 
by  the  unsympathetic  sarcasm  of  the  teacher  or  the  like. 

QUESTIONS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  NUMEROUS 

A  multiplicity  of  questions  is  likely  to  discourage  and 
fatigue  children  because  of  the  monotony  of  the  procedure. 
According  to  Stevens'  investigation,  already  referred  to,  the 
number  of  questions  in  one  recitation  period  is,  on  an  average, 
85.3  for  English,  81.2  for  History  and  81.4  for  Science.  That 
is,  the  children  are  asked  about  two  questions  per  minute. 
Embarrassment,  repulsion,  constraint,  weariness,  etc.,  will 
often  be  the  outcome  of  such  a  method  of  numerous  questions, 


A  STUDY  OP  QUESTIONING  173 

as  the  following  excerpt  illustrates :  "  There  is  one  teacher 
who  asks  question  after  question  and  does  nothing  else  for 
a  whole  period ;  and  everything  becomes  monotonous  and  one 
feels  really  wearied  so  that  one  can  not  understand  what  is 
going  on."  Another  girl  says :  "  As  a  result  of  too  many 
questions  we  become  indifferent ; "  still  others  say  that  they 
become  nervous  and  impatient. 

Effectiveness  and  leadership  in  social  life  depend  on  the 
ability  to  express  one's  self  adequately  on  the  topic  under 
consideration.  But  in  the  schoolroom  the  number  of  ques- 
tions, whether  good  or  bad  are  apt  to  be  so  large  that  there  is 
no  time  left  for  complete  expression  of  thought.  The  pupils 
are  allowed  merely  to  punctuate  the  questions  with  mono- 
syllabic answers,  or  with  a  few  words.  The  following  example 
from  a  lesson  on  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  will  illustrate  the 
point  (65.  pp.  38-42,  66).  The  number  of  questions  asked 
in  one  recitation  period  was  105  out  of  which  60  were 
answered  with  less  than  five  words: 

T.  We  will  see;  hold  your  judgment  until  the  end,  and  see.  How 
much  is  description  used  in  the  story,  Mr.  J.?  Is  there  very  much? 

P.  Quite  a  little. 

T.  For  what  did  it  seem  to  be  put  in? 

P.  I  think  one  place  the  Canto  starts  very  quietly,  and  then  the 
clan  gathered  in  the  fiercest  preparation,  terrible  oaths,  shows  con- 
trasts. 

T.  Is  it  put  in  then,  just  as  a  scene,  or  for  some  distinct  purpose? 

P.  Distinct  purpose. 

T.  And  in  this  case  it  was? 

P.  Contrast. 

T.  What  other  descriptions? 

P.  Nature. 

T.  Very  much  space  taken  up  with  descriptions  of  nature? 

P.  Yes. 

T.  Have  you  a  pretty  fair  idea  of  the  country? 

P.  Yes. 
and  so  on. 

The  questions  should  be  made  so  that  every  child  may  have 
frequent  incentives  to  answer  in  well-articulated  sentences. 
Dr.  Lay  says  (32a.  pp.  303-4)  that  "too  great  emphasis  has 
been  put  upon  questioning  without  thinking,  that  in  the 
schoolroom  is  fostered  a  form  of  conversation  that  has  an 
analogy  in  the  court  room  alone.  He  further  says :  '  The 
natural  form  of  conversation  should  be  preserved  in  the 
schoolroom,  especially,  since  the  question  is  unpleasant  or 
even  painful  to  most  children.  The  child  must  have  freedom 
to  follow  his  own  thought  process,  not  that  of  the  teacher." 
And  for  this  purpose,  description,  narration,  and  exposition, 
or  in  other  words,  the  method  of  our  spontaneous  report  is 
very  desirable.  We  are,  however,  by  no  means  inclined  to 


174  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

slight  the  questions  and  questioning,  but  simply  to  guard 
against  the  use  of  too  many  fragmentary  questions.  An  inter- 
change of  all  these  methods  of  description,  exposition,  narra- 
tion and  good  questions  contributes  to  freshness  and  interest. 
It  is,  of  course,  too  much  to  demand  a  complete  sentence  for 
every  question,  and  again  it  is  pedantry  to  banish  all  questions 
that  can  be  answered  by  "  yes  "  or  "  no."  We  need,  however, 
to  be  sure  that  a  sufficient  reason  follows  or  precedes  the 
answer,  so  that  the  '  yes,'  or  '  no  '  may  neither  be  a  mere  guess 
nor  an  automatic  expression. 

Here  it  may  be  worth  noting  that  the  teacher  who  accepts 
vague  and  indefinite  answers  incidentally  encourages  slovenly 
habits  of  thought  and  fosters  guessing.  A  child  is  quick  to 
take  advantage  of  the  teacher  who  will  accept  any  sort  of  an 
answer  and  interpret  it  as  a  statement  containing  thought. 
Indeed,  a  child  may  even  come  to  think  that  his  incoherent 
statements,  his  word  juggling,  really  represent  thought  (66. 
pp.  iio-m).  Worse  than  this  is  the  danger  that  a  teacher 
may  lead  the  child  to  insincerity  of  speech.  Instead  of  truth, 
he  will  have  appearances ;  instead  of  real  powers,  pre- 
sumptuous weakness;  instead  of  sincerity,  hypocrisy. 

Again,  it  seems  even  better  to  permit  the  pupil  to  blunder 
through  to  the  end  of  his  recitation  and  correct  him  than  to 
disturb  him  in  the  midst  of  his  speech. 

A  Normal  School  girl  says:  "A  certain  teacher  I  once  had  was 
very  impatient.  Before  I  would  go  to  the  room  I  would  know  the 
lesson  almost  word  for  word.  When  she  called  on  me  to  recite, 
if  she  did  not  interrupt  me,  I  could  finish  the  recitation,  but  as 
soon  as  she  began  to  ask  many  questions  and  then  scold  if  they 
were  not  answered  correctly,  I  would  forget  the  work  which  I  had 
before  known  so  thoroughly,  and  as  a  result  would  fail."  (Thirteen 
cases.) 

Moreover  the  method  of  numerous  questions  means  that 
things  and  their  qualities  are  torn  apart,  retailed  and  detailed, 
without  reference  to  their  more  general  character,  and  thus 
the  child  is  not  only  hindered  from  seeing  the  "  forest  on 
account  of  the  trees,"  but  also  the  firm  retention  of  the  subject- 
matter  is  rendered  very  difficult  (20.  p.  97). 

TIME  SHOULD  BE  GIVEN  FOR  ANSWERING 

Rapiditv  in  questioning  intensifies  the  attention  of  children 
to  great  advantage  and  is  undoubtedly  necessary  for  peda- 
gogical purposes,  but  its  dangers  should  not  be  overlooked. 

First  of  all,  speedy  questioning  emphasises  the  quantity 
instead  of  the  qualitv  of  the  work.  When  a  teacher  demands 
of  each  pupil  to  answer  quicker  than  the  other  for  the  sake 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  175 

of  a  brilliant  showing,  a  premium  is  put  upon  feverish 
activity,  regardless  of  the  cost  to  the  pupils.  According  to  the 
experimental  results  of  Hillgruber  (i),  Rusk  (52),  Meumann 
and  others,  under  the  compulsion  to  work  as  quickly  as 
possible,  the  amount  of  work  will  be  far  greater  than  that 
obtained  without  such  force.  Ach  (i.  p.  2)  says:  "  It  is  due 
to  the  law  of  difficulty  as  motivation,  that  is,  to  the  fact  that 
the  difficulty  of  a  forced  task  motivates  a  more  intense  effort 
of  Will  and  concentration  of  attention  on  the  present  problem." 
"  With  the  increase  of  the  difficulty,"  he  continues  further, 
"  the  effort  of  Will  increases  instinctively  and  acts  in  favor 
of  the  work  quantitatively."  But  another  aspect  of  their 
experimental  results  confirms  our  theory  as  well  as  Meumann's 
that  under  the  influence  of  the  compulsion  to  work  as  quickly 
as  possible  the  quality  of  the  work  deteriorates.  This  is  cer- 
tainly due  to  the  interference  of  association  caused  by  excite- 
ment, confusion,  lack  of  time,  etc.  It  is  obvious  that  sufficient 
time  is  needed  to  comprehend  the  questions  correctly  and  to 
make  correct  comparison,  discrimination,  and  true  inference 
as  well  as  call  forth  right  associations  or  to  make  orderly  asso- 
ciations with  the  old.  The  child  needs  a  longer  time  for  indi- 
vidual ideation,  and  the  ideas  with  which  the  child  works  are 
not  at  prompt  disposal  for  him  in  spite  of  his  accurate  posses- 
sion (42.  p.  231). 

Meumann  found  from  his  experiments  that  when  rapidity 
of  response  is  a  controlling  factor,  a  stimulus  word  is  com- 
prehended in  the  most  cursory  fashion,  so  that  the  repro- 
ductions are  of  little  value,  but  with  lengthening  of  the 
reaction  time  in  general  is  noted  an  increase  of  the  qualitative 
value  of  the  work.  He  concludes  that  for  tests  with  a 
problem  to  be  solved,  the  instruction  "  as  quickly  as  possible  " 
is  detrimental  (42.  p.  232).  The  results  of  Rusk  indicate 
that  for  different  children  the  speed  of  association  has  little 
value  as  an  indication  of  the  intelligence  of  the  learner  (52. 
u.  102).  The  children  who  reply  most  quickly  are  not  neces- 
sarily of  the  highest  intelligence.  An  exceptionally  good 
memory  is  often  found  to  co-exist  with  very  low  intelligence 
(52.  p.  151). 

On  the  other  hand,  Muller  and  Pilzecker,  and  Bigham  (5. 
p.  458)  also,  found  that  right  associations  are  reproduced 
more  quickly  than  false;  in  other  words,  those  ideas  which 
can  be  reproduced  easily  are  usually  truer  than  those  whose 
recall  is  difficult,  whether  this  be  due  to  pure  forgetfulness 
or  to  the  confused  association  with  kindred  ideas.  This  again 
shows  that  questioning  should  not  be  too  speedy,  since  speedy 


176  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

questioning  will  overlook  the  false  association  that  should  be 
corrected  and  cleared. 

The  experimental  results  of  Franken  (22.  pp.  239-243)  tell 
us  that  the  lengthening  of  the  time  for  reflection  (Bedenkzeit) 
brings  about  a  quantitative  increase  but  a  qualitative  degen- 
eration, since  the  increase  of  right  answers  is  smaller  than 
that  of  false  ones.  This  result  apparently  contradicts  our 
theory,  but  a  closer  study  shows  that  there  is  no  conflict, 
but  agreement.  In  Franken's  experiment,  the  observer  gave 
only  those  answers  that  were  most  clear  and  certain  to  him, 
and  with  the  brief  interval  for  reflection,  all  doubtful  answers 
are  rejected.  (22.  pp.  227-229.)  Furthermore  his  result 
shows,  that  the  mean  variation  varies  with  the  length  of  the 
time  for  reflection;  it  increases  if  the  time  is  lengthened  and 
decreases  if  this  is  shortened ;  that  recollection  needs  a  certain 
time,  and  if,  before  its  process  is  complete,  questions  and 
hence  ideas  and  answers,  crowd  themselves  in  consciousness, 
the  recollection  will  be  disturbed  and  hindered  (22.  pp. 
227-9;  24i). 

Second:  rapid  questioning  ignores  individual  differences 
(59.  p.  215),  and  consequently  fosters  shallow  thinking  or 
guessing.  What  one  pupil  solves  in  a  second,  another  may 
spend  a  minute  in  solving  (3.  p.  243).  Meumann  says 
that :  "  The  concrete  thinking  of  a  child  is  surprisingly  slow ; 
in  some  cases,  he  takes  almost  ten  times  as  long  as  the  adult 
to  respond  to  a  stimulus  equally  familiar  to  both  "  (42.  pp. 
227-8).  Children  who  are  more  ambitious  are  apt  to  answer 
more  quickly  than  others.  Temperament  also  makes  a  great 
difference.  The  results  of  Rusk's  experiments  also  disclosed 
great  individual  differences  in  the  rates  of  reaction.  For 
example,  an  investigation  with  three  boys  of  the  same  age 
and  intelligence  revealed  the  fact  that  one  of  the  boys  in- 
variably took  three  times  as  long  as  the  other  twa  to  respond 
to  the  stimulus  words.  The  work  presented  no  difficulty,  yet 
his  normal  rate  of  reaction  was  considerably  slower  (52. 
pp.  102-3).  The  teacher  of  these  three  boys,  although  they 
had  been  under  his  care  for  years,  was  unaware  of  any  sucu 
difference,  and  probably,  in  oral  questions,  this  boy  owing 
to  his  slower  rate  of  response,  would  appear  at  a  disadvantage 
(53.  p.  837).  Bader  (3.  pp.  102-104)  obtained  similar 
results,  among  his  five  observers  those  whose  reaction-time 
was  shortest  gave  the  poorest  answers. 

Furthermore,  what  effect  does  a  demand  to  answer  "  as 
quickly  as  possible  "  have  upon  the  mind  of  the  child  ?  Ba- 
der's  experiment  teaches  us  that  the  observer  focuses  his 
attention  on  the  act  of  answering  quickly  as  a  result  of 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  177 

pressure.  Thus  those  whose  natural  disposition  forces  them 
to  a  quick  reply  are  still  more  incited  by  the  stimulus  and 
give  flippant,  unconsidered  answers,  while  those  who  are  by 
nature  reflective  feel  in  the  procedure  an  unaccustomed  im- 
pulse (3.  pp.  243-4).  In  both  cases,  as  a  result,  quickness 
of  solution  takes  place  at  the  cost  of  quality.  To  make  these 
results  clear,  let  us  cite  a  few  introspective  reports  of  Bader's 
observers :  observer  E  says :  "  The  task  of  replying  quickly 
influences  consciousness  and  drives  me  to  do  so."  Observer 
F  says :  "  The  idea,  '  you  must  reply  as  quickly  as  possible/ 
is  always  very  vivid  and  governs  everything  else/'  F  further 
says  "  I  do  not  know  why  I  have  said  that  word.  Oh,  yes, 
in  an  endeavor  to  answer  as  quickly  as  possible,  I  did  not 
take  time  to  give  a  sentence,  but  brought  quickly  merely  a 
word."  B  says :  "  I  would  have  answered  differently.  At 
all  times  I  was  clear  that  it  (the  answer)  was  false,  but  I 
thought  that  I  needed  too  long  a  time  to  do  otherwise;  and 
hence  I  spoke  so  quickly"  (3.  p.  100). 

Any  demand  for  speedy  reactions  deprives  a  child  of  time 
for  suspension  of  judgment  and  weighing  the  evidence  pro 
and  con;  it  prevents  him  from  appealing  to  concrete  experi- 
ence latent  in  his  mind,  but  encourages  him  to  accept  any 
suggestion  from  within  as  well  as  without  and  to  react  at 
random.  As  a  result  such  a  method  may  bring  about  mental 
automatism,  a  habit  of  instinctive,  premature  reaction.  We 
should  keep  in  mind  that  the  class  room  is  not  a  vaudeville 
stage  for  displaying  or  rehearsing  the  mere  strength  of  verbal 
memory,  but  a  laboratory  for  testing,  getting,  verifying,  using 
and  developing  knowledge,  in  a  word,  for  the  training  of 
purposive  thinking. 

It  is  the  function  of  questioning  to  make  children  under- 
stand first  of  all  the  meaning  of  the  question  and  to  make 
an  orderly  association  between  the  question  and  ideas  in  the 
answer.  A  question  erroneously  comprehended  may  not  only 
evoke  the  wrong  answer  but  may  also  cause  an  interference 
of  association.  Now  it  happens  quite  often  that  when  a 
question  is  asked  under  the  spur  of  answering  quickly,  many 
children  raise  their  hands  first  and  then  think  about  the 
problem.  The  answers  are  given  frequently  before  the  ques- 
tion is  fully  understood.  With  frequency  of  such  a  mode 
of  questioning  and  answering,  the  child  may  finally  become 
habituated  to  a  mode  of  thinking  in  which  the  attention, 
critical  insight  and  examination  of  the  inner  process  present 
between  the  question  and  answer  is  neglected. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  follows  that  the  rate  or  tempo 
of  questioning  should  be  carefully  considered  for  different 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

ages  and  classes  of  children  so  as  to  allow  just  sufficient  time 
for  good  reaction.  (52.  p.  104.) 

It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  when  questions  are  put  for 
the  sake  of  drill  or  of  the  review  upon  memorized  matter, 
they  may  be  asked  with  emphasis  and  rapidity ;  but  even  then, 
the  individual  differences  in  reaction  time  and  the  influence 
of  the  command  to  answer  "  as  quickly  as  possible "  upon 
the  observer  should  be  kept  in  mind. 

A  large  number  of  rapid  questions  is  injurious  both  to 
mind  and  body.  As  Stevens  says,  "  a  large  number  of  rapid 
questions  keeps  children  in  a  highly  strung  nervous  tension 
where  there  should  be  natural  and  normal  conditions  (65. 
p.  171).  It  is  certainly  injurious  to  the  nervous  organism  to 
live  in  such  a  high-pressure  atmosphere." 

One  girl  says :  "  One  of  my  teachers  by  her  mode  of  speedy 
questioning  causes  me  to  put  all  of  my  mental  powers  on  the  ques- 
tions in  hand.  After  spending  an  hour  with  that  teacher  I  feel  really 
tired  and  nervous  so  that  I  can  not  do  anything  until  I  have  time 
to  recover  from  my  nervousness." 

Another  girl  reports :  "  There  is  a  teacher  who  affects  me  very 
much.  When  I  enter  her  room  I  am  as  calm  and  composed  as  anyone 
else  should  be,  but  when  I  leave  it  I  am  worked  up  to  such  a 
nervous  pitch  that  I  am  almost  unable  to  go  on  with  the  work  of 
the  next  hour.  It  is  caused,  I  believe,  by  the  teacher's  incessant 
calling  upon  us  for  answers  and  recitations."  (Seventeen  cases.) 

Some  individuals  can  do  mental  work  with  far  less  waste 
of  energy  than  others  even  under  pressure,  but  most  of  us 
are  apt  to  be  made  nervous  and  excitable  by  undue  nervous 
stress.  In  some  cases,  excitement,  fatigue  and  anxiety  may 
cause  the  beginning  of  pathological  neuroses. 

A  girl  reports:  "At  one  time  I  had  a  teacher  who  was  extremely 
nervous.  When  she  called  on  her  pupils  for  answers  and  recitations, 
she  hardly  gave  them  time  to  recite  or  answer  by  calling  for  answers, 
but  she  would  supply  words;  and  just  by  her  whole  manner  and  her 
mode  of  questioning  she  made  her  pupils  so  nervous  that  some  forgot 
everything  they  knew,  some  became  restless  and  some  of  my  class- 
mates gave  way  even  to  the  nervousness  in  spells  of  crying." 

It  is  especially  noteworthy  that  this  speedy  habit  of  re- 
action and  thinking  formed  by  such  a  method  may  persist 
even  till  late  in  life  and  hinders  the  victim  from  quiet,  deep, 
and  connected  thinking. 

Some  teachers  may  say  that  the  ability  to  concentrate  atten- 
tion on  a  problem  should  be  cultivated,  and  hence  speedy 
questions  must  be  used.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  attention 
of  a  child  is  very  likely  to  be  dulled  by  even  a  few  minutes' 
exposition  and  that  it  is  aroused  by  animated  questions;  but 
we  must  not  forget  that  a  multiplicity  of  speedy  questions 
also  tires  and  disgusts  the  children.  After  a  few  minutes, 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  179 

their  attention  again  flags;  they  will  no  longer  listen  to  the 
inquiries  of  the  obstinate  questioner,  and  they  will  answer  only 
at  random,  thanks  to  the  defensive  mechanism  of  nature. 
Hence  the  method  of  rapid  questioning  will  rather  kill  than 
form  the  habit  of  attention.  Attentive  moment  and  relaxa- 
tion-moment should  alternate.  Above  all,  it  is  desirable  that 
attention  be  paid  to  the  meaning  of  the  question  and  to  the 
quality  of  an  answer,  not  to  the  form  of  the  question  nor 
to  the  teacher. 

Too  slow  questioning  is,  however,  detrimental  for  the 
education  of  the  will  (i.  pp.  3-4).  The  best  method  may, 
as  Ach  suggests,  be  to  let  children  work  at  times  under  the 
spur  of  obtaining  good  results  as  quickly  as  possible  but  with 
intervals  of  relaxation.  This  method  conditions  an  increase 
of  the  effort  of  the  will  and  brings  about  the  best  result 
both  qualitatively  and  quantitatively  (i.  p.  3). 

Still  another  point  to  be  considered  is  that  sometimes  even 
the  brightest  children  and  some  adults  too  fail  to  answer  in 
spite  of  knowledge,  when  asked  a  question  suddenly,  unex- 
pectedly, or  at  an  examination.  The  writer's  own  experi- 
ence and  observation  show  that  such  a  question  causes  a 
sudden  arrest  of  psychic  activity,  or  that  there  arises  out 
of  unconscious  complexes  an  apparently  unrelated  idea. 
Thoughts  refuse  to  flow  freely,  only  to  lead  one  to  an  utter 
failure,  even  when  well  prepared  in  the  subject.  The  nerve 
centres  for  the  time  seem  paralyzed;  as  soon  as  one  is  alone 
or  with  a  sympathetic  friend,  the  obstruction  gives  way,  and 
clear-cut  correct  answers  which  he  might  have  given  in  reply 
to  the  questions  raised  are  readily  thought  of. 

Psychologically  such  a  sudden  mental  arrest  may  be  due  to 
fear,  excitement,  a  feeling  of  unpreparedness,  lack  of  self- 
confidence,  timidity,  shyness,  embarrassment,  or  excessive 
ambition. 

Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  the  fact  remains  the  same.  It 
is  absurd  to  judge  children's  mental  ability  through  the  an- 
swers to  such  questions.  Moreover  a  failure  may  injure  their 
future  work  through  volitional  inhibition. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  wise  to  add  that  for  individuals 
who  have  a  normal  nervous  system,  adequate  nutrition  and 
abundant  rest,  and  especially  plenty  of  sleep,  excitement  and 
explosion  of  energy  once  in  a  while  may  be  as  essential  as 
rest  and  the  storing  of  energy.  Normal  children  must  be 
trained  to  work  occasionally  under  pressure  so  as  to  be 
prepared  for  the  struggles  of  their  future  life.  To  shield 
pupils  entirely  from  tests  of  strength  is  to  rear  them  in  weak- 
ness and  timidity  (44.  p.  118). 


l8o  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

Finally,  the  limits  which  should  be  observed  in  the  rate  and 
tempo  of  questioning  and  in  regard  to  the  functions  of 
questions  in  general,  that  they  may  be  useful  and  not  harmful 
to  mental  development  are  problems  to  be  studied  seriously  by 
every  teacher. 

CONCLUSION 

Experimental  evidence  from  our  own  investigations  and 
those  of  others  give  the  following  tentative  results : 

1.  Children   attempt  the  Bericht  with  a  different  mental 
attitude  from  what  they  have  toward  the  Verhbr;  for  example, 
some   children   reported   correctly  in  the  Bericht  what  they 
answered  wrongly  in  the  Verhor,  while  other  children  make 
false  statements  in  the  Verhor  in  regard  to  what  they  reported 
correctly  in  the  Bericht. 

2.  The  weakness  of  the  Bericht  seems  to  be  the  outcome 
of  three  factors,     (i)   Pedagogically,  it  appears  to  be  due  to 
passivity  of  the  mind  induced  by  habituation  to  the  questioning 
method  and  lack  of  initiative.     (2)  Psychologically,  it  may  be 
due  to  interference  or  weakness  of  association  that  children 
fail  to  recall  in  the  Bericht   what  they  can  by  the  aid  of 
questions.     (3)  It  is  undoubtedly  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that 
children's   interest  is  not   equally  distributed  to  each  detail, 
and  hence  they  fix  their  attention  on  the  more  interesting 
facts. 

3.  The  large  number  of  errors  in  the  Verhor  is  due  not 
only  to*  the  passivity  of  the  mind  and  the  suggestive  character 
of  the  questions,  but  also  to  the  fact  that  children's  mode  of 
viewing  things  is  wholly  different  from  that  of  adults,  while 
the  questions  are  asked  from  an  adult  point  of  view. 

4.  The  experimental  results  show  that  many  children  can 
do  better  in  the  Bericht  than  in  the  Verhor.     In  view  of  this 
fact  is  it  justifiable  to  determine  the  grade  of  children  by  the 
questioning  method  alone? 

SUMMARY  OF  PRACTICAL  INFERENCES 

1.  The  Bericht  is  far  more  trustworthy  than  the  Verhor, 
but  the  range  of  the  former  is  far  smaller  than  that  of  the 
latter. 

2.  Either  method   is   defective  for  testing  children;  both 
should  go  hand  in  hand. 

3.  All  questions,  whatever  their  form,  have  a  suggestive 
influence ;    and   hence   children    should   be   trained   to   guard 
against  suggestion  and  to  react  to  the  content  and  not  the 
form  of  questions. 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  l8l 

4.  Children  are  suggestible  to  external  as  well  as  internal 
stimuli.     They  should   be  trained  to  withstand  unfortunate 
suggestions. 

5.  Children  should  be  trained  to  formulate  questions  them- 
selves on  what  they  have  to  learn  or  have  learned. 

6.  All  questions,  except  those  for  drill  and  experimenta- 
tion, should  be  for  purposive  thinking. 

7.  The  rate  and  tempo  of  questioning  should  be  regulated 
according  to  the  subject  matter  and  the  individual  differences 
in  reaction  time. 

8.  The  number  of  questions  should  not  be  too  numerous. 

9.  Questions  should  neither  be  too  difficult  nor  too  easy, 
but  well  adapted  to  the  pupil's  mind. 

10.  Questions  should  be  clear  and  logical. 

11.  They  should  be  given  in  few  words. 

12.  Vague,  indefinite,  and  fragmentary  answers  should  not 
be  accepted. 

13.  If   possible    to    avoid    it,    an    answer    should    not   be 
interrupted. 

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184  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

APPENDIX 

The  questions  used  in  the  experiments  described  above  are  based 
on  the  section  (p.  259)  on  the  Guianas  in  C.  C.  Adams'  Elementary 
Geography  and  the  section  (pp.  18-19)  on  the  Surface  of  South 
America  in  A.  E.  Frye's  Grammar  School  Geography.  "  The 
Guianas:  The  three  Guianas  (B.  D.  and  F.),  are  mainly  devoted 
to  the  growing  and  manufacture  of  cane-sugar  and  its  by-products, 
rum  and  molasses.  Cultivation  is  confined  almost  wholly  to  a  narrow 
coast  strip,  where  most  of  the  people  live.  Owing  to  the  decline 
in  the  price  of  sugar  the  British  and  Dutch  planters  are  replacing 
sugar-cane  to  some  extent  with  coffee  and  cacao.  An  important 
amount  of  gold  is  mined  in  the  interior,  the  British  producing  the 
larger  part  of  it.  Georgetown  and  New  Amsterdam,  the  chief  towns 
of  British  Guiana,  owe  their  importance  to  the  palmy  days  of  the 
sugar  trade.  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  take  nearly  all  of 
the  exports  of  this  colony — sugar,  gold,  rum,  rubber,  rice,  and 
molasses.  Great  Britain  supplies  half  and  the  United  States  one 
fourth  of  the  manufactures,  food,  and  coal  imported.  Paramaribo  is 
the  commercial  center  of  Dutch  Guiana,  nearly  all  of  whose  trade 
is  with  the  Netherlands.  French  Guiana  (port,  Cayenne)  is  less 
developed  than  the  other  colonies,  and  includes  phosphates  among 
its  exports.  Its  trade  is  mainly  confined  to  France." 

A.  Tell  what  you  know  about  the  colonies  of  the  three  Guianas. 
(For   the   Bericht.} 

B.  Series  of   questions  for  the   Verhor: 

1.  To    what    manufacture    are    the    three    Guianas    mainly 

devoted? 

2.  What  by-products  are  obtained  from  that  manufacture? 
33.  Do  most  of  the  people  of  the  Guianas  live  along  the  nar- 
row coast  line? 

3b.  Do  most  of  the  people  of  the  Guianas  live  in  the  interior? 

4.  What    are    the    British    and    Dutch    planters    planting    in 

place  of  the  sugar-cane? 

5.  Why  do  they  do  that   (referring  to  question  4)  ? 

6a.  Is  an  important  amount  of  gold  mined  in  the  interior? 
6b.  Is  an  important  amount  of  gold  mined  on  the  coast  line 

of  the  Guianas? 
7a.  Does  British  Guiana  produce  the  larger  amount  of  gold 

(than  the  other  Guianas)  ? 
7b.  Does  British  Guiana  produce  the  smaller  amount  of  gold 

(than  the  other  Guianas)  ? 

8.  Mention  the  names  of  the  chief  towns  of  British  Guiana. 

9.  To  what  do  those  towns  owe  their  importance? 

loa.  Is  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane  confined  almost  wholly 

to  a  narrow  coast  line? 
lob.  Is  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane  confined  in  the  interior 

of  the  Guianas? 

11.  What  products  are  exported  from  British  Guiana  to  Great 

Britain  and  the  U.  S.  A.? 

12.  What  things  are  exported  from  French  Guiana? 

133.  Isn't  French  Guiana  less  developed  than  the  other  Guianas? 
I3b.  Isn't    French    Guiana    more    developed    than    the    other 
Guianas  (other  colonies  of  the  Guianas)  ? 

14.  What   things   are   imported    from   Great   Britain   and   the 

United   States  to  British  Guiana? 

15.  What  is  the  commercial  center  of  Dutch  Guiana? 


A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING  185 

i6a.  Isn't  the   trade  of   Dutch  Guiana  chiefly  confined   to   the 

Netherlands? 
i6b.  Isn't  the   trade  of   Dutch  Guiana  chiefly   confined  to  the 

U.  S.  A.? 

17.  With   what   country    does   French   Guiana   mainly    trade? 

18.  What  is  the  chief  town  or  port  of  French  Guiana? 

South  America  has  the  shape  of  a  triangle  towards  the  south.  Its 
coast  is  not  so  broken  as  that  of  North  America.  In  general  the 
surface  of  South  America  resembles  that  of  North  America.  Each 
has  its  greatest  or  primary  highland  on  the  west,  with  lesser  high- 
lands on  the  east,  and  a  great  plain  between.  The  highland  which 
lies  along  the  west  coast  of  South  America  is  known  as  the  Andes 
highland,  or  simply  the  Andes.  It  is  not  nearly  so  wide  as  the 
Rocky  mountain  highland,  but  it  has  much  higher  plateaus.  Over 
the  eastern  part  of  South  America  spreads  a  low  but  broad  plateau, 
not  nearly  so  high  as  the  Andes.  This  plateau  is  mainly  in  the 
eastern  half  of  a  country  called  Brazil  and  is  known  as  the  highland 
of  Brazil.  The  western  half  of  Brazil  is  part  of  the  Central  plain 
and  contains  vast  forests  called  selvas.  Most  of  the  trees  grow  in 
the  lowlands  along  the  rivers  that  form  the  Amazon  system.  The 
Amazon  river  and  its  branches  drain  the  largest  river  basin  in  the 
world.  The  selvas  are  in  this  basin.  Most  of  the  largest  rivers 
of  the  Amazon  system  flow  from  the  Andes  highland.  The  part 
of  the  Central  plain  south  of  the  selvas  is  grassy  and  supports  mil- 
lions of  cattle  and  horses.  In  that  land  such  grassy  plains  are 
called  pampas.  The  parts  of  the  Central  plain  north  of  the  selvas 
are  called  '  llanos,'  meaning  level  land.  There  also  the  people  raise 
many  cattle. 

A.  Tell  what  you  know  about  the  surface  of  South  America.     (For 
the  Bericht.} 

B.  Series  of  questions  for  the  'Verhor  are  as  follows: 

1.  What  is  the  shape  of  South  America? 

2.  Which  part  of   South  America  is  widest? 

3.  The  coast  of  Australia  is  regular,  that  of  North  America 

is  irregular.     How  is  the  coast  of  South  America? 
33.  Is  the  coast  of  South  America  less  irregular  than  that  of 

North  America? 
3b.  Is  the   coast  of   South  America  as   irregular   as  that  of 

North  America? 

4.  Towards   what   direction   does   South   America  taper? 

5.  In  what  part  of  the  country  does  a  great  plain  of  South 

America  lie? 

6.  Along  what  coast  of  South  America  does  the  primary  or 

greatest  highlands  He? 

7.  What  is  the  name  of  that  primary  (or  greatest)  highland? 

8.  Compare  the  height  of   that  primary  highland  of    South 

America  with  that  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  highland. 
8a.  Has  not  that  primary  highland  much  higher  plateaus  than 

the  Rocky  mountain  highland? 
8b.  Has  not  that  primary  highland  much  lower  plateaus  than 

the  Rocky  mountain  highland? 
o.     Compare   the   width   of   that   primary  highland   with  that 

of   the   Rocky  mountain   highland. 
9a.  Is  that  primary  highland  of  South  America  narrower  than 

the  Rocky  mountain  highland? 
gib.  Is  that  primary  highland  of   South  America  as  wide  as 

the  Rocky  mountain  highland? 


l86  A  STUDY  OF  QUESTIONING 

10.  Over  what  part  of  South  America  does  a  low  but  broad 

highland    (or    plateau)    spread? 

11.  What  is  the  name  of  that  low  but  broad  highland? 

12.  Why  is  it  so  called? 

13.  South  America  has  highlands  and  lowlands.     Where  do 

most  of  trees  grow  there? 
133.  Do  not  most  of  the  trees  in  South  America  grow  on  the 

lowlands  ? 
I3b.  Do  not  most  of  the  trees  in  South  America  grow  on 

the  highlands? 

14.  How  large  is  the  Amazon  river  basin  compared  with  the 

other  rivers  in  the   world? 

15.  From  what  highland  do  most  of  the  largest  rivers  of  the 

Amazon  system  flow? 

16.  What  country  has  a  surface  very  similar  to  that  of  South 

America? 
i6a.  Does  the  surface  of  South  America  differ  from  that  of 

North  America? 
i6b.  Does    the    surface    of    South    America   resemble   that   of 

North  America? 

17.  Locate   the  grassy  plains   of    South   America. 

18.  What  is  the  grassy  plain  of   South  America  called? 

19.  In  what  regions  are  most  of  the  cattle  raised  in   South 

America? 
ipa.  Do  the  people  of  South  America  raise  many  cattle  on 

the  plain? 
ipb.  Do  the  people  of  South  America  raise  many  cattle  on 

the  highland? 

20.  What  part  of  South  America  is  called  'llanos?' 

21.  What  does  'llanos'  mean? 

2ia.  Does  not  'llanos'  mean  highland? 
2ib.  Does  not  'llanos'  mean  level  land? 

22.  What  are  the  vast  forests  in  Brazil  of  S.  A.  called? 

23.  In  what  river  basin  are  those  vast  forests? 

24.  Which  half  of  Brazil  is  a  part  of  the  central  plain? 
243.  Is  the  western  half  of  Brazil  a  part  of  the  central  plain? 
24b.  Is  the  eastern  half  of  Brazil  a  part  of  the  central  plain 

(of  South  America)  ? 


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